Psychosis, Maybe
by Befuddler
Summary: This is a series retelling Borderlands 2, following Maya, Krieg, Gaige, and another psycho named Caine. Our heroines came to Pandora for adventure and find plenty when followed around by not so crazy psychos. Can beauty and love really calm the savage beast of psychosis? Maybe. [Most of the story is rated T but some chapters will contain adult content.]
1. Krieg

*note: this chapter is narrated by Krieg's sane half*

Chapter 1: Krieg

I don't remember much of my past. And by past I mean before I was bat-shit insane. But I do remember that I was never really right in the head. I've always liked killing people. I think I used to get paid to kill evil men. Not the most righteous of lives but it put food on the table…table…my home. I think I may have had a wife, or a girlfriend, someone important to me. But try as I may, I can't remember a thing about her. Not her name, her voice, her face, what she was like, nothing. Did we love each other? Or were we unhappy? I don't know. Sometimes I wonder if she exists at all. The thought of me possibly having a loved one could just be the delusions of my insane mind. What I know for sure, is I had a daughter…_have _a daughter? But just like the woman, I can't remember her. All I know is she was a sweet little girl and I loved her as only a father could. But the description "sweet little girl" isn't going to help me find her, especially on a planet like Pandora.

My memory starts back a little before the insanity took me. Hyperion captured my daughter, the woman and me. I think I fought hard for them. I was wearing this interesting looking body armor that looks like rusted metal plates with bolts sticking out of them. But the loaders were too many. As they dragged us to the labs, my armor fell to pieces, broken in battle, just like my resolve. All that's left now is my left gauntlet and right shin guard, reminders that I used to be a good man, never killing the innocent.

At the labs, we were thrown into a room that basically looked like a public shower room, with a large spout in the ceiling. They made my daughter watch as they dumped slag on us. She didn't scream in terror for us, she was so scared she was frozen, her eyes locked on us. The slag bath felt like I was drowning and burning at the same time. That's when things become a blur. There was suddenly a hole in the wall. Did someone come to save us? Did my daughter have a grenade? Why would a little girl have a grenade? The last I remember from that day is her running through it. Where did she go? Did she even make it out? Is she alright? I have to know.

The weeks that followed were the most horrifyingly painful days of my life. I may have survived the slag bath (with the radiation sickness to prove it) but it was followed by needles, needles everywhere. My arms were left raw from the injections, needles were stabbed into my spine a thousand times, but the worst of all were the injection in my brain. The wack jobs really liked getting to my brain through my eyes. That was the most painful part. They said I was going to be an unstoppable killing machine for the glory of Hyperion and Handsome Jack. 'Not able to feel pain, unnaturally heal, stronger than a bullymong during mating season, they said. Okay, all of those things may have come true but they were still crazy. The first time they tried sticking a needle in my eye I struggled. Big mistake. The scientist missed and stuck me in my right pupil. The needle was full of highly concentrated slag and it rotted my eye out of its socket and the skin around it turned to this disgusting purple-black. At least they learned to no stick that high of a dose into my brain.

It was during those days when…He came along. Another me, born of my rage and lust for Hyperion blood. He screamed within my mind. Most of what he said made no sense, his favorite words being kill, meat, blood, or poop. But there was one phrase he said every now and then that was coherent: "Let me loose". He was trying to gain control. I could feel it. We were fighting for control over my own body and he was slowly winning.

Then one day, guards took me to a different holding cell. Inside was the woman that may have been my wife, or what was left of her. She took to the slag far worse than I. I'm glad I barely remember what she looked like then. As I looked at her half rotted-half glowing body and she cried blue tears on my shoulder, I snapped. I couldn't take it anymore. I screamed and banged on the walls, letting my rage take over felt…good. But it didn't stop. He took over and all he wanted to do is kill the closest living thing.

After He…snapped her neck, I was able to regain control. I instantly started cutting my right forearm open with the sharp edge on my gauntlet. I just kept cutting and cutting and cutting. My new healing couldn't keep up and I slipped into darkness.

I don't know how long I stayed that way, floating, weightless, in a sea of black. I thought I was dead and in hell. I easily came to terms with it. I deserve hell, I killed an innocent. But still I couldn't help but wonder about my daughter. Then suddenly I could see again, just in time to see myself cleave a man's skull in two with a buzz axe and blow off another's with a shotgun.

"BLOOD CONCHERTO!" It was Him that was screaming. It was Him that cut the next man's mid-section, spilling his intestines. He was in control.

I saw bandages covering my arm, where the countless cuts I made should be. The bandages looked ancient. How long was I out? Weeks? Months? Maybe even years. Leaving my much less hospitable half to rampage across Pandora. The realization only grew when I saw what I was wearing, or what lack thereof. I was shirtless and my body had a several scars I don't remember getting. In place of a shirt, I wore some sort of pointless harness. Any sort of protective gear was sparse. I still had my gauntlet and shin guard, but I now had a customized breathing mask that smelled of bandit. Somehow, He got hold of a digistruct pack, giving the psycho easy access to firearms, great. But that wasn't the worst part. No the worst part was the pants, annoyingly orange.

_'Really? Orange pants? I just…why?' _But there was no response. My other half didn't even acknowledge me with one of his ridiculous ramblings. He just started looting the mangled bisected corpses.

_'Hey, I'm talking to you!'_ I persisted as He approached a storage chest.

"GIVE ME YOUR GUTS METAL BOX," he screamed still ignoring me. I tried to will myself back into control, but to no avail.

_'I know you can hear me. Give me control of my body!' _But he still ignored me, or could he really not hear me? He continued with his task and grabbed a childish looking SMG, with a shark mouth design on the barrel, and looked at his current cheap Tediore.

"But which makes the prettiest noise?" And he whirled around and started unloading their clips into a body. He concurred to take the Bandit SMG and moved on, leaving behind a shanty town, painted crimson.

Weeks passed by, then months. Every day I tried to get through to him. But he never heard me. All I could do was watch as He flayed countless people alive. I had to feel the blood on my hands as He played with his victims' entrails. I had to see myself rip a man apart and wear what was left of his torso as a hat. I had to hear myself laugh as I wore a colon like a fashionable scarf. That's all they are to Him: meat. Thankfully we have only run into bandits, psychos, murderers, rapists; anyone that deserved the axe. Not like the woman…

I've started to grow numb to the stylized murder, the gore, and the flesh of a man that's been crusted under my fingernails for six weeks. But it's still bugs me a bit. So I just try to think of other things as He goes on one of his rampages. I've started worrying about menial things like: What's my name? It's resorted to me just guessing or just saying names to myself to see if any ring a bell. I've narrowed it down to names that start with a "K". Koby? Kyle? Krister? Kraig...Krieg? That name, it seems...right. Krieg.

_'What do you think,'_ I thought to Him._ 'Krieg sound like a good name?...Still can't hear me? Fine.'_

We came upon another bandit town. There was a man hanging from a rail post, dead. Considering he wasn't wearing some sort of mask with that odd upside down "V" symbol on it I'm guessing he was innocent. Who wasn't innocent was the bandits taking pot shots at the corpse. We start to charge.

_'I wonder if I was into sports.' _I distract myself as blood sprays from a slit neck onto my chest.

After the slaughter, we finally took a rest and sat on large rock. He started fiddling with the buzz axe again while I contemplated the hanged man.


	2. A Meat Bicycle Built For Two

Chapter 2: Meat Bicycle Built for Two

As Krieg sat upon his rock, fiddling with his axe, his inner voice couldn't stop thinking about the man hanged from the rail post. He didn't really have much reason to, but still, the man looked like he was possibly sane. He wore normal clothes: a shirt, pants and shoes. No armor, no bandit mask, no gun holsters, not even extra pockets for opportunistic thieving. He looked like he was a good man, an innocent.

_'Why do I care so much,' _he thought _'What makes him so special? Hundreds of people die out here. Whether innocent and the not so innocent. Like those bandits we just murdered… I'm sick of all this killing, I want it to end.'_

Just then, another bandit came strolling into the town. Krieg instantly notices him and moved to flank him.

_'Here we go again.' _Krieg starts to move up behind the bandit who is currently distracted by the hanging corpse. _'I wish I could warn him. To tell him to run and hide so I won't have to kill him. But that's not going to happen. He has full control of our body. He might not even speak at all, just run up and slice him to pieces.'_

"I HAVE THE SHINIEST MEAT BICYCLE!"

Krieg breaks into a full sprint and jumps off a half wall, soaring through the air, buzz axe raised. The axe connects at the bandit's shoulder, the blade spinning, tearing into his flesh as Krieg completed the swing. The saw cut through the rib cage, lungs and heart. A quick death. He only had enough time let out a pitiful scream.

_'Heh, close enough'_

Moving on once again, Krieg found a train track and started walking along it, tossing his buzz axe in the air to keep himself entertained. Krieg's sane half was going through his daily routine, trying to get his psycho half to listen to him. As usual, it wasn't working. At this point sane Krieg was talking for his own sake.

_'Hey remember back when we were sane?'_

"I'M READY FOR A SPINE TINGLER!"

_'I guess not. Can you even hear me at all?'_

"SHE CAN TASTE THE BLOODY HATRED!"

_'Still can't hear me can ya? Little voice in your head trying to remind you of a time we could go hours, days even without screaming about our desire to ride bicycles made of meat…who am I kidding, I don't even remember.'_

**Meanwhile further down the tracks…**

Maya sat on a bench, waiting for the next train. She heard rumors of a Siren living in New Haven. Maybe she could tell her what it means to be a Siren, how her powers work, and how are they connected to Vaults like everyone says. She had so many questions and burning need to answer them. She just had to get to New Haven. But the train was running late and she was starting to get anxious. She got up from her seat and started pacing with impatience. She checked her ECHO communicator for the time.

"27 minutes late. 27 minutes wasting my life away! Of course it has to be 27 minutes, just like the 27 years of my life down the drain."

Maya was surprised with herself, the monks bred patience into her and here she is freaking out over a few minutes of waiting. But 27. Every time Maya thought of Athenas, of the monks, of her life even, she gets chocked up.

"God I'm so stupid. They used me for almost my entire life. They were my life." Maya feels hot tears threatening to break out. She crouched down and hugged her knees to her chest, holding back her tears.

"What am I doing here," she sobbed to herself. "I don't know anything about life outside the monastery and here I am on the second most violent planet in the galaxy." Maya chuckles to herself, remembering an old Atlas saying.

"At least I'm not on Promethea…You can do this Maya. Just remember what the monks taught you. They may have lied to you and used you, but they taught you how to fight, they taught you self-discipline, and they just plain educated you. You're smart, you're strong, you're tenacious…" Maya sprang to her feet, rejuvenated and feeling she could take on anything.

"Dammit I'm a Siren! Nothing can stop me!"

Just then Maya heard a loud thud and the train barreling into the station. She turned to see what the train hit, probably a skag. But what she saw was a man, shirtless, wearing bright orange pants and a mask. She remembered other travelers talking about the surplus of psychotic natives on Pandora. And it would make sense for a psycho to step in front a train, right?

"Is that a psycho," she mumbled stepping forward to take a closer look at what might be her first hostile encounter on this planet.

Krieg stumbled to his feet, a little jarred from his sideswipe with the train. His eye catches a figure a few yards away from him. Normally, this is when Krieg would start running towards his next kill, but as his eyesight focused in, he found himself only staring. It was a woman, tall and slender. She wore her blue hair in a cute bob, cut short in the back but at a medium length up front. This perfectly framed her beautiful face. She had fair skin and a jaw line that begged to be held in the palm of your hand as you stroked her creamy cheek with your thumb. Her silver eyes were piercing with strength, yet soft and comforting at the same time. And her lips were perfectly plump with a good amount of pout.

_'She is the most beautiful woman I have __ever__ seen.'_ Krieg's eye was wide with amazement at just how beauty seemed to radiate off of her face. But, being a man, his eye ventured downward, only to be met with the same astounding features this woman possessed.

She was wearing a combat jumpsuit. It was yellow and black, the contrasting colors bringing focus to her body. And what a body it was. She had a slender neck that curved into her strong but not overly pronounced shoulders. Her sides swooped and curved in all the right places, making her look like a professional cuddle machine. And she had a tight mid-drift leading up to her more than ample breasts, which were presented well within the tight confines of her suit.

Moving downward, Krieg was met with her relaxed fit cargo pants, making a huge contrast to her upper half as if to say "Yeah I know I'm hot but don't you dare fuck with me". But still, her pants held loosely to her hips, teasing a sight at her porcelain thigh. Her bottom was no as framed as her top curves, but Krieg knew it would provide a succulent handful. And to top it all off, her exposed left arm and hip showed her intricate blue tattoos, marking her as a Siren.

_'Oh god. She's a Siren warrior who could kill me with her brain! That somehow makes her even more beautiful.'_

Maya was having a little looksee herself. Krieg's shirtless form blatantly showcased his tan, muscled body. His arms were as big around as her head and his pecs looked like they have pecs. He was a bit of a hunchback, but this seemed to just accentuate his abs more, which looked like he could crush rocks between them. His muscles were also covered in scars and at this time, Maya was concluding she was a scar girl. But Maya was no fool, nor was she easy. She kept her eyes locked on him to see if he'd make a decidedly hostile move. They both just stared at each other. Maya in curiosity and caution. Krieg in total awe.

_'Tell her she's as gorgeous as a thousand sunsets. Tell you need her help. Tell her to rescue you and care for you. And whatever you do, do NOT scream the word "poop" at the top of your lungs.' _

And for the first time in how ever long he has been trapped within his own body, the psychotic side of Krieg acknowledged his old sane self. But only to do the exact opposite of what he said.

"I'M THE CONDUCTER OF THE POOP TRAIN!"

That did it. No sane person would scream something like that. Maya decides to open fire before this psycho did anything more than scream incoherent phrases at her. She jumps to cover and raises her SMG to her shoulder.

_'It's over idiot,' _Krieg scolds his crazy half as he begins to dodge the electrified bullets. _'You're going to die here and now. And the last words out of your stupid mouth will have been: "poop train".'_

Krieg finds a rock for cover and Maya continues to unload clips, hoping he'll come running straight into the line of fire. But with the load discharge of bullets ringing off next to her ear, Maya does not hear the light pattering of feet behind her.

_'Oh great, now the rats are arriving,' _sane Krieg groaned.

The disfigured, mutated scavengers crawled out of nook and cranny behind the Siren and began to advance, probably planning to rape her then eat her abused body.

_'Turn around Siren.' _Sane Krieg hoped his willpower alone would turn Maya around, but the rats only got closer.

_'Dammit turn around or you're dead!' _But the rats only closed the gap more. _'Tell her to look back! Now!' _Krieg desperately tried to command himself to call out to her in warning.

"STRIP THE FLESH!" Psycho Krieg wasn't listening to him! And now the rats were dangerously close, one of them producing a nasty looking shiv.

_'No! Listen to me!'_

"SALT THE WOUND!" Now the rat with the shiv was right behind her, moving in to take a stab at her kidneys. She would bleed slowly and painfully as they raped her.

_'Yeah, great. We'll salt ALL the wounds later! But right now, if you don't listen to me she's gonna die and it will be all YOUR FAULT!'_

Time seemed to slow. Krieg gripped his axe a little tighter and his eye slammed shut. Sane Krieg could feel himself straining his addled mind. It was as if he had to physically concentrate to find the right words to say.

"GRRRR," Krieg struggled for words, "TURN AROUND PRETTY LADY!" And he hurled his buzz axe right passed Maya's head and into the rat's behind her.

And at the sight of blood he was off. Before Maya could even comprehend what the psycho just said to her, let alone the rat seizing up with an axe in his head behind her, Krieg was slicing through rats. He cut into one's shoulder, leaving its arm to hang loosely on his form while the wound gush blood like a demented fountain. Another he sliced into his abdomen. The rat scrambled to pull his guts back in. Another rat got an axe to the face.

"THAT'S THE STUFF," Krieg cackled as he kicked the rat off his precious tool. He then turned to the last, who was cowering in fear.

"I'M GONNA PUT MY PAIN INTO YOUR SOUL!" The rat clutched his chest, falling over in a spasm. Krieg literally gave the rat's disease ridden body a heart attack.

Krieg looked around at the bodies, proud of his good work, and he watched the life flicker out of the rat he disemboweled. Then there was a high pitched scream from behind. He turned to face his opponent only to see them frozen in a purple-black ball of energy. Krieg was astonished. What was this? Maya approached Krieg and he realized this was her Siren power. She could hold people in place, making them totally defenseless. Krieg looked back at the immobile rat and took his cue to finish the thing off. The fact he stopped with rats, the fact he did not feel even the slightest need to kill the Siren, Sane Krieg took this as sign that not all hope was lost.

_'Now tell her thank you. Tell her that because of her we might, one day, actually be able to be a normal person again.' _Krieg turned to Maya and attempted to give her praise.

"I POWDERED MY COCKATEIL FOR THE RIB CAGE SLAUGHTER!"

Maya seemed disgruntled and she had every right to be. This psycho was a confusing head case. He spewed profanity and other such nonsense but he saved her and he called her pretty. Maybe there was more to this psycho than meets the eye. Maya looked into his eye with a frown and saw…regret? Nervousness? Maybe he couldn't easily control what he says and he just wants her to understand. He seems friendly enough…Maya decided to reward her rescuer with a cute smile. Krieg's eye lit up and Maya knew he understood.

_'Huh, she understood us? Close enough.'_

**Enjoy the reading? Leave a rating or comment if you so wish.**

**And I know writing out the video is a bit redundant, but I couldn't resist :3**

**If you're here for Gaige, have patience. She and the OC are coming next chapter.**

**Stay Frosty, **

**B**


	3. Out of My Brain on the 5:15

Chapter 3: Out of My Brain on the 5:15

Maya and Krieg stood a few feet apart on the train platform, an awkward tension between them. Both of them were wondering what to say or who will speak first. Maya's eyes were locked onto Krieg's single iris, attempting to read what was going through his mind.

"Thank you…f-for saving me. I'm Maya." Maya spoke first, slowly outstretching her hand in greeting.

_'Don't rip her arm off. Don't rip her arm off. Don't rip her arm off. Please. Please. Please. Please.' _Krieg looked at her hand, but no thoughts of adding it to his meat bicycle crossed his mind. The only thing both sides of Krieg wanted to do was make Maya happy. With uncharacteristic calmness, Krieg took Maya's hand in his.

_'We're doing it. We are actually doing this. I was saying we could be a normal person again, but deep down, I didn't believe in us.' _Krieg cracked a wide smile under his mask as he shook Maya's hand, proud of his accomplishment.

"So…do you have a name?" Krieg realized he was just awkwardly shaking Maya's hand without saying a word.

_'Okay. We've gotten this far, we can do this. Just say "Krieg". That's our name, Krieg.' _Krieg shut his eye, racking his brain as hard as he could to form the name in his throat.

"Kr…Kri…Kr-KrrrRRIIIEEG! KRIEG SALTED PAIN MEAT!" Maya cringed a little from Krieg's shouting but she understood.

"Krieg, huh? Nice to meet you."

Krieg looked up at Maya's face again. She really is such a wonderful woman. Krieg stared at her lips and could only think of how those luscious lips would feel against his own. He gazed into her caring eyes and concluded he never wanted to leave her side again. He wanted to be with her, to protect her as she would care for him. As long as he was with Maya, Krieg was sane, and he was never going to go back.

"You can let go of my hand now Krieg." Maya gave him an adorable smile.

Krieg blushed under his mask. He was lost in her eyes. He was hopelessly smitten by her. But Maya was a little flushed from Krieg's obvious attraction to her as well. She's never been someone's crush before. In fact, she has never felt attracted to anyone. She's spent her entire life in the solitude, the _chaste_ solitude, of the monastery. Being someone's muse has left her a little hot and bothered.

_'Discipline, Maya. Discipline.' _But all mutual attraction aside, the train was going to be leaving soon. And Maya would be a fool to refuse extra help.

"Krieg? I'm headed to New Haven. Do you want to come with me?"

Both halves of Krieg were astonished even more.

_'She wants us to come with her? She wants us to come with her!' _Krieg mentally jumps for joy. His less than sane half than loses a little control and jumps on to the side of train.

"MUSH METAL MAYHEM MACHINE! MUSH!"

Maya smirks and steps into the train's doorway, waiting for Krieg to follow her. But after a few seconds she thought Krieg might actually be serious about riding the outside of the train.

"Krieg?" Maya looks over to Krieg, who looks straight back to her like a dog when their master calls its name. "Are you riding inside or outside?"

_'You're supposed to go inside the train.' _Krieg heard his inner voice, but he didn't move. Painful memories of cell blocks, slag, needles, small dark rooms, arm restraints and just plain imprisonment started flooding into his mind. Krieg squeezed himself onto the side of the train as hard as he could.

"NEVER GOING BACK! THE SMALL, THE DARK! I'LL EAT IT!" Both Maya and the sane Krieg were shocked by this outburst. And both of them came to same conclusion at once.

_'We're claustrophobic? Talk about Achilles' heel.'_

Maya comes over to Krieg and places a hand on his.

"It's okay, I'll be right here with you." Maya felt sorry for Krieg. She wanted to help him. But above all, she wanted him on the train with her.

[Time: 5:15; The train will be departing shortly; All aboard] The automated train droned on. It was now or never.

Maya took Krieg's hand and gently tugged him toward the door. Krieg's heart rate rises, his breath shallows out and his pupil constricts. He's having a panic attack. He rips his hand from Maya's grasp, nearly smacking her across the face. He immediately realizes this and turns away from her in shame. But this does not faze the sweet Siren. She simply comes up behind Krieg and softly caresses his shoulders. Krieg whimpers in his embarrassment.

"Shhh, Calm down. Everything will be fine. I promise." Maya applies a little more pressure in her ministrations to Krieg's shoulders and he melts faster than butter to her gentle touch. Sensing this, Maya takes his hand again for a retry.

"Just keep your eyes on me, Krieg. Don't think about anything, don't look at anything. Just focus on me," she says as she begins to lightly pull Krieg into the train cart.

_'Well that'll be easy.' _Krieg is lead into the train.

He eagerly obliges Maya and focuses in on her beauteous facade. Hypnotized by her deep wells of eyes, Krieg doesn't even notice the doors squeak shut behind him, sealing him into the compact passenger car. He doesn't even notice the dozens of prying eyes, spotting a beautiful Siren leading a hulking psycho past their seats. He doesn't even notice Maya pulling him into a private booth, an even smaller space than the public seating area. But it is much less noisy; considering there were only two other people in there and the walls are sound proof. They sat down together (Krieg never letting go of her hand for his anxiety) across from a young lady (probably 18) and a sleeping man.

The girl reminded Maya of a younger version of her. She had curves most girls her age would be jealous of. Her curves were held nicely on her trim and slender (if not a bit scrawny) frame. She had a jawline built for smiling under her cute button nose. But her eyes screamed of her intelligence and her brow was arched, giving her an independent, defiant air about her. And her body was topped with her fiery red hair, which she kept in two high ponytails.

Her clothing spoke even more to her clearly rebellious nature. She wore a customized school uniform. She had large combat boots and black-white striped stockings. Her school skirt was unaltered but she wore an overly large belt with a Vault symbol buckle. Her school dress shirt was tattered at the sleeves and the rest of it was hidden under a hooded denim vest, decorated with punk skulls. And her ensemble was completed with her pair of welding goggles and custom made robotic left arm, giving her a steam punk grease monkey look. She was currently fiddling with a number of gadgets and her own robotic arm. She had to move her rather expansive tool bag for Krieg and Maya to sit down.

"Hi there," she said in a bubbly voice, "Sorry about my mess. My na-" She paused as Krieg walked into the cabin, obviously taken aback by his shirtless muscled form. But she regained her composure, and cleared her throat.

"My name is Gaige." She gave a smile to Maya, trying not to stare at the godly abs before her.

Maya gave Gaige a smirk of understanding and introduced them.

"Hi Gaige. I'm Maya and this is Krieg," she said presenting Krieg.

Giving Krieg another look over, Gaige realized the psycho-esque look about him. She shot Maya a glance that begged the question.

"Don't worry," Maya encouraged her, "He won't bite. He's different. But he can't really control his words."

"The meat flaps didn't invite the little man to the tea party," Krieg exclaimed in a low roar.

"Ooookay…" Gaige pondered.

"He saved my life," Maya explained.

Gaige and Maya continued to awkwardly converse over Krieg's half sanity. And Krieg mentally talked with himself.

_'Try putting down the buzz axe. That would probably help with calming the air,' _sane Krieg suggested.

"But the air isn't screaming," crazy Krieg thought out loud. The two ladies' heads swiveled his direction.

"What was that, Krieg?" Maya asked. Krieg responded by slowly putting down his menacing axe, leaning it against the wall. As he did so he kept his sight on Gaige, as a way to say his intentions. And Krieg was rewarded with a soft grin from Gaige.

"So…what's your guy's story?" Gaige asked.

Maya spun her tale of her life on Athenas, the monastery, and her mission here on Pandora. Krieg reveled in every detail, quietly begging to know more about her. Then it was Gaige's turn. She spoke of her school project and how things escalated from her hatred for inequality at the school. After spewing on about smashing the system, she got to the point in her tale, when things went berserk and was forced to flee the planet to avoid arrest.

"But at least I'm being appreciated for my hard work now, through my 30,000 and counting subscribers. They know my DT deserved MORE than first place! But NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, '3rd place' they said. Stupid Marcy and her daddy's money…" After Gaige was done ranting, she slouched back into her seat and pouted for a bit.

"I have just one question, Gaige," Maya asked, "If Marcy's father bought out the judges for her to get first place, then who the hell got 2nd place over you?"

"Oh I always forget that detail. Marcy didn't want me to be among the finalists at all, but she went bitching to her dad AFTER the finalists were selected. That stupid cunt didn't even know judges couldn't recant their decisions like that. So she made sure I got the lowest award possible…I will admit though the guy who got 2nd place deserved to be a finalist. He made this tiny little chip that could do everything your ECHO Tech can do. It went with a bracelet that projected a holographic interface for the chip. He theorized that, with funding, the chip could be designed to be implanted into your arm. So all you'd have to do to have all of the ECHO-Net at your fingertips was raise your arm. I think he called it Omni-something or other. But anyway, what about you big guy?" Gaige turned to Krieg, awaiting his response.

_'Haha, this will be good. She knows we can't talk right, so just try your best…for the sake of being sociable.' _Krieg cleared his throat and attempted to speak of his sad back story.

"I am the Prince of Justice and Genocide and Lord of the Sweet Meats. Gone are the days of the tentacles and the age of gods and mercy is far away. We are the fighters in the middle. The second act in a THREE PART MEAT PLAY! AND I WILL WIN BEST SUPPORTING ACTORRRRrrrrHAHAHAAA!"

Krieg's screaming rose to ring in everyone's ears. And the sleeping man was startled awake. His height was somewhere between Maya and Gaige's and his build, as far as Maya could tell was half of Krieg's sculpted muscles. He wore a trench coat with a hood pulled up from underneath. He also wore a scarf across his face and tinted goggles. Come to think of it, not one inch of skin was exposed on his person. The fact that such a get up made no sense in the hot badlands of Pandora and his right hand was shoved into his coat the whole time, he clearly did not want to be recognized. He quickly whipped out an oversized Jacobs revolver, hand cannon class, in his left hand. He shoved it into everyone's face, switching between targets every couple seconds.

"Who is that-What was that?! Does the thing of fake man come to get Caine?! WHO SHOUTED-CAINE KILL! Caine silence the voices-Caine need no more voices! You're WORTHLESS-Not worth the air, scum stain on life-hemorrhoid of the disease ridden asshole of…" He spoke fast and endless, but as soon as his cross hairs fell on Maya, Krieg snapped.

"STRANGER DANGER!" Krieg yelled and grabbed his axe, lunging the short distance across the booth. The man lightning fast switched his sight to Krieg and fired as Krieg's axe came down.

The loud shot in the small room dazed Gaige and Maya, though Maya was able to scream "no" as she saw the gun fire into Krieg's chest. Gaige had her eyes closed and her hands over her ears, trying to recover. Maya tried to pull Krieg away from the man. Krieg was unperturbed by the bullet and the man had jerked his head to the left, avoiding a cleaved skull. The man then tackled into Krieg, busting both of them through the door. The deafening ringing in everyone's ears were instantly pierced by the sounds of more guns firing in the public areas and the clashing of metals.

The two men continued to brawl on the floor, even as a Vault hunter jumped over them, turning into a wereskag and charging into a Hyperion GUN Loader.

_'Wait what? Hyperion bots?' _Maya was perplexed.

But there was no doubt about it. The fight from the public carts came crashing through the doors. Bullets of all varieties whizzing through the air. Adventurers and Vault hunters dropping like flies. Loaders exploding. It was more of a slaughter for the people than a fight against machines. A stray bullet grazed the man's back and he rolls off of Krieg. In that moment, they both realize there are Hyperion bots threatening their lives. Forgetting about their petty squabble, they raced in opposite directions, clearly wanting to sate an angry hunger for Hyperion blood…or oil in this case.

"WWWWWWOORTHLESS MAGGOOOOOTS!" Hollered the man, blasting through a couple Loaders.

"FUN TIME!" Screamed Krieg, reducing Loaders to scrap metal.

Maya still can't comprehend what's going on around her. This was the first full on battle she's ever been in. And she-"ANARCHY FOREVAAAAAAAARR!"

Gaige sprinted into the fray, wielding only a dinky pistol while raising her robotic arm, summoning the Deathtrap she spoke so highly of. And she was right to. The first Loader DT attacked exploded with only one swipe.

"AND EVVVAAARR! Yeah! Nice one boy!" It was clear Gaige could handle herself.

And here was Maya, a grown woman dazed. She shook her head clear and phaselocked a hot loader. Throwing it through the train's wall, she jumped into the fray.

"Here we go."

**Enjoy the reading? Rate and comment if you'd like.**

**Stay Frosty,**

**B**


	4. Crazy Train

***I'd usually try to have near 2200-2500 words but I cut this chapter in half so I could take a break. Let me know if you prefer longer chapters (which take much more time since I'm a slow typer) or shorter ones.***

Chapter 4: Crazy Train

_'It's amazing how a life threatening experience brings people together.' _Gaige pondered the clarity of this as she fired off her old Jacobs, defending the man that assaulted her hearing not five minutes ago. _'It really just snaps things into perspective.' _Her pistol didn't do much damage to the Loaders, but they retreated farther back toward the caboose.

The man, Gaige, the wereskag, and a few other (less useful) Vault hunters took defense in their newly claimed train car. The man leaned up next to the door to the next car, probably filled with more Loaders. Gaige joined him on the opposite side and they both reloaded.

"First day on Pandora kid?" He was shockingly calm as compared to his profanity before. Gaige opened her mouth to start throwing accusations, but decided the heat of battle was not the best atmosphere for argument.

"Yeah. Why?" She knew it was obvious, but she wondered why he was even asking.

"I assumed as much. Anyone that stays more than a day on this filthy excuse of a dirt ball would know to get better guns. Here." He stripped her of that discount pistol and shoved his own hand cannon and spare bullets into her grasp.

Gaige nearly dropped the deceivingly heavy revolver. If the weight of a gun was a measure of its power, then this thing would pack a hell of a punch, which it did. The man digistructed a small Tediore SMG, designed to be held in one hand, which he did in his left. His right arm was no longer hidden in his coat, but it was wrapped up in a cast. Was there no end to the layers of clothing he wore? Gaige had a couple questions pop into her head.

"Weren't you acting like a psycho a couple minutes ago?" Gaige didn't get her answer.

"All right. You ready big guy?" His question was directed at the wereskag, who gave a howl. The others behind them confirmed they were ready as well.

"I don't care about you guys, you'll be dead in couple train cars anyway." He said it matter-of-fact like and this angered one of the wanna-be heroes to raise his gun to him. Without hesitation, the man shot his would-be assailant in the head.

"Anyone else? Thought so." He turned his attention back to Gaige, who was staring at the now slumped over body in shock. "Mind the recoil on Jenny. She can be a real bitch sometimes."

Gaige was dumbfounded. He was completely unpredictable in every facet in his being except for his apparent hate for Hyperion. Also, with that last comment, Gaige realized he was treating her like a little girl. Who did he think he was anyway? But there was no time for that. He kicked down the door and rushed into the next car, firing off his weapon. The wereskag followed, jumping over him and into a PWR Loader, ripping it to shreds. The last two grunts followed suit, leaving Gaige alone.

"Mind the recoil," she scoffed, "I'll show him." Gaige turned into the doorway, assuming a strong stance and aiming at a GUN Loader farther down the train car. Breathing out, she squeezed the trigger, finishing her decidedly flawless from. The weapon jerked up, throwing off the aim and smashing Gaige across the nose.

"Told ya, dumbass!" The man called back to her without even looking as he ripped the arm off of an already crippled Loader.

With a bloody nose, Gaige summoned Deathtrap from his cooldown and trudged on through the mess of battle. They made it to the end of this car and took a short break again. This time, the wereskag proceeded first followed by the grunts. This was the caboose, the last car on the train and anyone with some sense for battle would think a commanding officer of some kind to be back here. That's why the wereskag crawled in on all fours. But the two last grunts went charging in standing tall and proud.

One shot, two kills. A SGT Loader equipped with a sniper rifle caught the fools in its crosshairs. It stood at the very back of the train, protected by two BUL Loaders. And in front of them stood five EXPLoaders. Gaige dodge rolled in and tossed a grenade one of the grunts had on his body. The man dashed in and drop kicked the first most EXPLoader. All of them toppled into each other like dominoes. Then the combined force of the grenade and Loaders blew a hole into the train's floor.

The wereskag took the smoke as opportunity to launch himself toward the SGT Loader. But a BUL Loader stepped in front. The wereskag began to tear away at the Loader, reaching over its shield to get at the eye. But the second BUL Loader shoved the beast toward the hole and he tumbled out of the train, taking a BUL Loader with him.

Deathtrap flew across the way, targeting the remaining BUL Loader. He slashed at its shield, ripping through it.

[Stop it. No-no-no] The BUL Loader protested in monotone.

The SGT Loader calculated DT as the greatest threat and turned to fire upon him. In a split second, the man grabbed Gaige, his left hand behind her right knee and his cast bound right hand crooked in her armpit. Before she could protest, he spoke.

"Aim for the eye." And Gaige was hurled across the car, flipping over the hole. While flying upside down, through the air, the barrel of her gun met the red eye of the distracted SGT Loader. She fired and Deathtrap swung again, ending the BUL Loader. Gaige fell on her butt and her back smashed against the caboose's back wall, but she did it. The SGT Loader slumped down, standing in place as a testament to her true aim.

"YYYYEAH! **MU-MU-MULTI-KILL**, KILL, Kill!" Gaige hollered at the top of her lungs and added an echoing affect to her words in her excitement. "Deathtrap, take me back." And Deathtrap carried his creator back over to her ally.

Gaige had a wide grin on her face as DT deconstructed. Her new "friend" looked at her, but Gaige couldn't really tell what he was thinking with his face hidden. Gaige suddenly felt that the moment was awkward and cleared her throat.

"Nice shot," was all Gaige got out of him.

"Uuhm…what do I call you?" Gaige remembered the name he spewed out earlier, but she thought it best to not bring up his psychotic tendencies.

"Caine…and I'm sorry for earlier and for calling you dumb. Whenever I'm angry, like when I'm fighting, or caught off guard, like in the booth, I go crazy…literally. I…I can't control it."

Well that explains things, sort of…not really. Gaige had questions buzzing through her mind and she breathed in her ammo to fire off a barrage worth of inquiries. But Caine rose up his hand in silent protest.

"We don't have time for that. We need to group up with your friends towards the front of the train. There's gotta be a larger force there, including the shit eating leaches that work on the blasted Loaders." With that he turned toward the doorway.

"What's your problem with Hyperion? I mean natives of Pandora have reason, but you…it's above and beyond." Gaige had to know. It was digging into her soul, the need to know.

Caine stopped in his tracks, his back turned to Gaige. He looked over his cloaked shoulder so she could clearly hear his voice.

"You don't want to know. Now let's go." And he was off again.

Gaige stood there for a bit, unsatisfied with his response. But he was right. Now is not the time, but Gaige promised to herself, she would get answers out of him yet. She took up a brisk run to catch up to Caine. And together they marched up the mile long train.

**Enjoy the reading? Leave a rating or comment if you so choose.**

**Also I'm currently snowed into my dorm so it looks like it's time *stretches neck and cracks knuckles* to write another chapter :3**

***boyfriend comes in, boyfriend wants to "cuddle"***

***tells him I want to work on my fanfic***

***boyfriend cuddles anyway***

**Well shit xD I might get another chapter in. We'll see.**

**Stay Frosty,**

**B**


	5. Runaway Train

Chapter 5: Runaway Train  
(Runnin' Right Off The Track)

_'Just how many of these guys are there?'_ Maya and Krieg had been pushing to the front end of this crazy train alone for the past 8 cars. _'There are Loaders and engineers everywhere. They're squeezed in, shoulder to shoulder, in each car and even more bust in through the walls and floor boards.'_

Maya was beginning to feel her energy weaken. She was using her powers more in these past few, yet hectic, minutes than she's ever had to before. The closer to victory they got the more exhausted Maya felt. Her hair was plastered to her face with sweat, which continuously rolled into her eyes, kissing her irises with their salty sting. Her combat suit was becoming increasingly uncomfortable, as sweat was pooling underneath the tight fabric. And as the icing on the cake, Maya had been punched in the breast 4 train cars ago, shifting her mounds within her constraining suit and bra. Now her bruised burdens jiggled too much with every step, making it all the more painful.

"GRIND, GRIND, GRIND! KILL, KILL, KILL!"

Right, Maya's breast pain wasn't even the worst part. The farther they pushed, the more engineers there were. And the more flesh Krieg ripped into, the more insane he started to act again. Krieg actually spun around to attack a Loader behind them, nearly chopping off some of Maya's arm muscle. She was getting increasingly worried about Krieg and her own safety. Killing living, breathing Hyperion personnel was simply too much for his blood lust. Just then, an engineer and a PWR Loader took a swing at Krieg at the same time.

"THANK YOU FOR RIDING THE PSYCHO POOP EXPRESS!" Krieg grabbed the two arms that drove towards him in punches. "TOOT TOOT!" He then pressed his feet up against their bodies, his left foot on the Loader's leg and his right foot on the engineer's chest. "I'LL BE COLLECTING YOUR TICKETS!"

And so he did. Pulling back on his arm tickets, Maya could hear the engineer's shoulder dislocate from a few feet, making her shudder. The Loader's was torn off completely, leaving the robot to gush oil everywhere. Krieg then shoved the oil pouring tubes into the engineer's screaming mouth.

"THERE ARE BEVERAGES IN THE DINING CAR!" Then, in one foul swipe, the Loader was cut in half at the waist and the engineer was beheaded. Maya stared as the headless form spit out a gruesome combination of crimson blood and black oil, making it look like a thick evil liquid.

"I NEED TO DROWN IN YOUR BLOOD!" Krieg rubbed the black blood onto his skin, completely ignoring the WAR Loader behind him. His body was literally shaking in happiness.

Maya strained her arm up in her practiced movement. The Loader was trapped within her sphere but Maya's hold was quickly fading. And as if matters could get any worse, she saw a GUN Loader begin to throw a grenade.

"Kr…Kr-Krieg," she struggled as her strength met its limits, but he was completely ignoring her. He was too busy eviscerating another engineer. Maybe the Siren was wrong about him and now she was going to pay for it with her life. Maya didn't want to accept it, but she still closed her eyes, awaiting the explosion.

She hears the explosion and flinches…but nothing happens. No burning sensations, no feeling of shrapnel piercing her delicate skin. Maya opened her eyes to see the WAR Loader was destroyed. Blown up by the GUN Loader's grenade.

_'It went off early? But how?'_

"How ya doin' down there, you lazy ass?" It was the man from before. His hand was outstretched to take hers. Maya accepted his helping hand.

"I thought I was done for…" Maya admitted to her apparent rescuer.

"Nope. Thanks to ol' Jenny here," he said, waving his large revolver in her face. "Sorry Gaige but I couldn't take the chance you'd miss. Here, take my SMG." He handed over his Tediore to Gaige, not paying Maya any mind.

Just like Gaige, Maya wanted to verbally slap him for his outburst earlier and his unnecessary name calling now, but before she could speak, Caine pushed her aside and blasted a hilariously large hole through an engineer's face. Gaige summoned DT and started to wreak her own havoc upon the foes. Krieg was deep into his rampage and continued to paint the walls, floors, seats and ceiling with his masterpiece. Maya tried to help out with another phase lock but was unsuccessful. Again and again she tried, each time making her feel more physically exhausted. As Gaige smashed an engineer's face in with her robotic arm, she noticed Maya's plight. She rushed over to Maya to see what was wrong, leaving Deathtrap to do the fighting for her.

"Maya, what's up?"

"My powers are expended. It's making me feel burned out."

Gaige looked at Maya in thought.

"It's all in your head," she finally said.

"What? No it's not. I'm physically tired!"

"No, mind over matter. Will yourself to believe you're not tired. It's all in your head!"

Maya tries but it doesn't work.

"C'mon Maya! If you don't do this, you're gonna die! Now get up and phase lock something!"

Maya tried again but to no avail. She began to grow irritated.

"Who taught you this crap?!" Maya was quite finished making herself look like a fool.

"Caine did, actually. While we were on the way to you," she responded. As if called to them, Caine ran back to them and grabbed Maya.

"Okay dumbass, we're going to do this Caine's way. Caine knows what you need." Caine locked Maya in a choke hold and pressed the menacingly large barrel of his Jacobs to her temple.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Maya struggled but was just too tired. All the while Caine was pushing her like this towards the fight.

A PWR Loader noticed their approach and began to spin its bladed hands.

"You kill this filth or it kill you," Caine yelled in her ear, his sanity visibly diminishing from him. "What will it be, lazy cunt?"

It couldn't end like this. Not like this. Maya came so far and she's experienced so little in her life. She wouldn't have it. Maya's rage boiled within her. Her stomach twisted and her throat closed. She was shedding tears for her life while her face contorted with hatred. Hatred for this psychopath, hatred for Hyperion, hatred for the monks (who never prepared her for this), but most of all she hated herself. She hated herself for trusting not one, but two psychos on this fucked up planet. She hated herself for being too tired, after all the training she went through, it accounted for nothing. She hated her feeling of helpless weakness within her. Maya screamed in pain, sorrow, and anger.

Her tattoos began to glow brighter than ever before. Her eyes glowed like her tattoos and she threw up her hand. Her phase lock picked up three Loaders at once, crushing them together. The room fell silent for a brief moment then the explosion came. The orb of her power compressed, reducing the robots to dust. As the sphere grew smaller, streams of energy arched from the phase lock to Maya. Maya felt the energy rush into her, revitalizing her. She instantly grabbed the arm chocking her and hurled Caine over her and onto his back. Just as Maya was about to punch him into the next dimension, Caine spoke.

"You understood."

Even though she couldn't see it, Maya could tell Caine was smiling. Smiling for her accomplishment. His actions were still uncalled for, but Maya couldn't bring herself to punish him. She just stared down at him. Thankfully the train car was now clear of enemies.

Maya did understand. It was all in her head. Her body was never exhausted. She only thought she had reached her limits. But to survive on Pandora, you had to push yourself past your limits and conquer stronger versions of yourself. (In other words, you had to level up xD) She helped Caine up and thanked him.

"NEVER STOP THE KILLING! NEVER!" Maya realized Krieg was still in a rampage and looked up to see Krieg launching himself toward her.

"Krieg no!" Maya called out to him as she threw up a phase lock a little too late.

Krieg's axe met her arm, cutting into the muscle. Maya screamed in pain, but luckily she was able to grab an Insta-Health hypo from a nearby corpse and was good as new. Maya walked up to Krieg, who was struggling in her mental grasp. Maya cupped his face in her hands.

"Krieg. Look at me. It's me. It's Maya."

Unknown to the others, Krieg was not struggling in angry blood lust. He was having a mental war with himself. As soon as his axe cut Maya, Krieg's sane half started make his moves to stop his crazy half. He wanted to cut his wrists again, bleed himself to unconsciousness just like before. The only thing stopping him was the phase lock.

_'If you ever do that again, if you harm her…no if you ever harm an innocent, I swear I will destroy us.' _Krieg's sane voice spoke to his crazy half as if he were his son. He kept a calm tone that conveyed he wanted to scream at him but didn't.

_'Grrr, SHUT UP! YOU THINK THIS IS THE END? IT WILL NEVER END. THE MEAT WILL BURN AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN, FOREVER!' _The crazy Krieg mentally retaliated.

_'No! This is the deal. You can kill as many of the deserving as you like. But as soon as your axe touches the flesh of an innocent I will kill us both. If you ever even THINK about harming Maya, I will end us even sooner. Control yourself or I will end it all. I'll use the razor edge on our gauntlet. Just like with HER. Remember?'_

_'RRRRAAAA-GET OUT OF MY HEAD!'_

_'I'll take that as a yes. Now be quiet and let me take over. You've done enough damage already. You do want Maya to like us right?_

_'…'_

_'Good'_

Maya looked into Krieg's eye. She could almost see the war raging in his mind. Once again she felt sorry for Krieg. He can't control himself. She would have to be his control. Maya couldn't understand her feelings for this man she just met a few hours ago, but she would not abandon him. She vowed to help him because she could no shake the feeling that there was more to Krieg. More to be unraveled and healed. Once Krieg seemed to calm down and stare back into her eyes, Maya dropped her field. Maya and Krieg continued to look into each other's souls, a calm spreading over them.

"You two love birds coming?" Caine and Gaige were both waiting at the door to the final train car, Gaige snickering at Caine's comment.

Maya and Krieg joined them at the door, readying themselves for whatever may be on the other side. Caine kicks it open to reveal the conductors chair. Caine recognized a certain fascist's hair style and charges in, spewing an endless list of creative profanities. He doesn't even notice the half ton worth of dynamite strewn about the place. He turns the chair to face him. But it wasn't the tyrant he sought. It was a life size Handsome Jack dummy, with yet another bundle of dynamite in its lap.

[It's cute you all think you're the heroes of this little adventure, but you're not.] The recording dripped with Jack's sarcastic tone.

"Shit," was all Caine said as he pivoted and rightly hauled ass with the others as far as they could get.

[Welcome to Pandora kiddos!]

There was a blinding flash, followed by the sensation of falling, then…blackness.

**Whew good thing I split the train chapter. This half ran long as hell **(using Scooter voice xD)

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed. Leave a comment/rating/review/thingy if you did.**

**Stay Frosty,**

**B**


	6. Count Your Blessings

Chapter 6: Count Your Blessings

The cold. That's the next thing Maya remembers. There was the flash of the explosion, the train running off the track, falling. There were all sorts of crashing and breaking sounds as Maya tumbled in the ruckus. Then darkness. She probably hit her head on something. But then she felt terribly cold. Was she dead? Maya could feel her body but could not move it, could not open her eyes. She was able to hear the wind, heavy and unrelenting. She can't be dead, but she is somewhere cold. Maya began the slow process of willing herself to consciousness when she heard a voice.

[Great. Another dead Vault hunter. Handsome Jack's been busy.] This voice was robotic but held a tone of joy to it, forced joy even.

Maya pried open her iced over eyes to see this robot digging at the frozen ground with a small shovel. She shakily reached out her hand, trying to get the robot's attention.

[Wait a minute. You're not dead! YES!] Maya struggled to her feet as the little robot droned on. [Now I can get off this glacier. Claptrap, your metaphorical ship has finally come in!]

_'Glacier? Oh right, the train was scheduled to pass through the tundra. And of course we crashed here, where it's cold as hell.' _Maya looked around her, the carnage of the train wreck surrounding her.

_'Where's Krieg? Gaige? Hell I'd even take Caine right now. Actually, Caine and his unlimited long sleeve clothing would be great right now. I can barely feel my arm.' _Maya vigorously rubbed her bare left arm, keeping her nerve endings awake. She then realized the little robot was still yammering.

[Allow me to introduce myself. I am a CL4P-TP steward bot. but my friends call me Claptrap…]

_'Dear god, not a steward bot. Those things never shut up if you let them talk.' _Maya tuned Claptrap out and gave herself a look over. Mild cuts and plenty of bruises all over. But she was bleeding from a deeper gash across her abdomen but the cold was slowing the blood loss. _'Count your blessings I guess.' _She then checked her equipment, which was missing. _'Terrific. No ECHO communicator, no digistruct pack. This day just keeps getting better and better.' _

[Oh I've got something for you!] Claptrap rummages through what looks like a pile of half buried human popsicles and retrieves, wouldn't you know it, an ECHO communicator. He rolls back to Maya on his single wheel and hands her the ECHO tablet.

"Wait a minute. Isn't Claptrap the product line that went crazy and took over half of this planet for a couple months?" Maya suddenly remembered the reports, followed by the articles of Hyperion wiping out the entire line.

[Really? That makes no sense. I think I would remember something like|{/**ERROR**\}| the ECHO communicator serves as a map and organizes your digistuct pack. If you had one…]

_'What the hell was that? It's like he's had a faulty memory wipe…Hmm…He seems harmless though…'_

Maya wasn't very convinced but this possibly homicidal bot may be her only chance of survival out here.

"Look Claptrap, I'm bleeding here. Do you have some sort of shelter and medical supplies?"

[Oh, of course! Come, come friend. Let's get you inside.] And they were off, trudging through the harsh wind to Claptrap's promised safety.

**Meanwhile…**

"BAH!" Krieg sucked in the frigid air as he burst out of his snow tomb. "COLD DAY IN MEAT!" He screeched as he pulled a bit of metal out of his side, the wound already beginning to heal.

_'Where is she? Get up. Look for her.'_

Krieg scoured the landscape for Maya, desperate to find her. The wind was powerful and bit at Krieg's bare form, but he barely noticed it. The pain of cold was fully outweighed by the pain in his heart. He searched and searched but could find no sign of anyone. He was alone. Alone again.

_'No. We're not thinking like that! We have to keep looking. We have to find her.' _Krieg pushed on but his feet were heavy with his sorrow.

He came upon one of the crashed train cars and sprinted to it, but all he found was his buzz axe.

_'Huh, of course we find this before her.' _Krieg slumped over in a pitiful heap. A single tear escaped his eye, the wind preserving the symbol of his heart-ache. _'What's this? Do you really miss her?' _The sane half of Krieg scanned his own mind to see what his other self was thinking. All he saw was Maya, smiling.

"I AM UNUSED TO THE EMOTIONS I AM CURRENTLY FEELING!" The words were still growled out in his usual tone, but that phrase sounded rather…sane.

_'You love her as much as I do…I get it.' _The sane Krieg paused, trying to find the right words to use in comforting a love struck psychopath. _'Uuh…don't worry…we'll find her…Actually you should be happy. Those feelings mean we're one step closer to sanity. Which means we're one step closer to being good enough for her. So let's go find her, okay?'_

Krieg stood up and exited the upturned train car, only to trip over a moving metal box.

[Hey! Another survivor! Quick one of you needs help!] It was Claptrap.

"PRETTY BLUE LADY?!" Krieg screamed in inquiry.

[Uuuh yes. Her hair is quite fabulous, but her bleeding wound isn't. Come on, she fainted and I can't carry-wooow!] Krieg scooped up Claptrap and broke out into a full sprint toward Claptrap's directions.

They quickly came upon a passed out Maya, the snow around her stomach red with her life leaving her. Krieg threw Claptrap aside like trash and cradled Maya like a new-born baby.

"WHERE'S THE MEATY SMOKEHOUSE?!"

[uh uh]

"**WHERE IS IT!" **Krieg's voice bellowed deeper than usual, giving his scream a demonic fury to it.

If Claptrap was able to piss himself, he would have unloaded everything he had. He protectively collapsed into his body except for his spindly arm, which pointed outward. Krieg followed the arm's path to see a distant smoke stake. He bounded to the sight, a hovel of a house coming into view. He kicked down the door and found a room with a large fire place on the back wall. A comfy looking couch sat to his right, holding a frozen body. Krieg gently laid Maya next to the fire and dragged the sofa over to her. He picked her up again and made her more comfortable after tossing away the meatsicle. He then tore the place apart, finding a few half empty Insta-Healths. He tended to Maya's wounds with uncharacteristic grace. The bleeding stopped and her wound was healed with the hypos, but she still lost a lot of blood. Now all Krieg could do was hold her and hope.

**Meanwhile again…**

Gaige sprang up from unconsciousness, breathing heavy, and her brain firing off as it still believed she was in the middle of a train wreck. Gaige was sat upon a floor of ice. She began shivering as her body came off the adrenaline high and realized how cold it was. Gaige looked around to gain her bearings. To her left stood an ice cliff face, leading up to a large glacier. To her right was a flat expanse, in the distance she could see ocean water. So she was lying on only a sheet of ice, a carpet between her and the freezing depths.

_'It's so cold here. I better get moving and keep my blood flowing. But is the ice strong enough to hold me?' _Gaige looked behind her to find crashed train cars and other debris, most of which has not broken through the ice. '_If the ice is thick enough to support train cars, then it won't give out on me.' _

Gaige moved to shift her weight to her left arm, in order to push herself off the ground. But when she pressed down, her arm gave way. Gaige looked at her robotic arm.

_'Shit. It's damaged.' _The upper half of her arm, which contained the wiring and sensors for controlling it, was breached with shrapnel. _'At least it's not my real arm. Count your blessings right?' _Upon further inspection she noticed the forearm was damaged as well, which contained the tech to summon Deathtrap. _'Even better.'_

Gaige got up and headed toward the crash site. As far as Gaige could tell, these train cars were from the front of the train. Most of them were over half destroyed and the rest looked like they had been set on fire. Gaige entered the least destroyed one, hoping to find one of her companions. The train car's floor was torn up and lying in a pile at the end of the car. The ground beneath her may still be ice, but at least the walls of the car blocked out the nippy wind. Gaige noticed a distinctive trench coat poking out from underneath the pile of rubble. Gaige scrambled to dig Caine out of the pile of debris.

Gaige removed the last bit of sheet metal to show the unconscious Caine. Caine's coats were in tatters from being closer to the explosion than anyone else, revealing the man underneath them. Or to put more correctly: the thing underneath the clothes. Caine resembled a tragic accident more than a man. Gaige eyed the right arm he so protectively hid. First of all, the arm was disproportionately large compared to his left. Its skin was rough and leathery with a sickly, deep purple color. The arm was covered in festering wounds. Upon closer inspection Gaige saw what looked like electrical wiring within the wounds. In fact, it seemed the wires ran through his entire arm. The grotesque mass was completed with a clawed hand, which was oversized to his already overly large arm. His fingers looked more like kitchen knives, looking quite menacing.

But the mutation didn't end at just his arm. The disgusting purple taint spreads like burn scars over his shoulder, down his back, across his chest, and up onto his face. About 2/3 of his face was mutated purple. Leaving only the top left of his ugly mug unscathed. Although the left side of his mouth was purple, it still looked like normal human skin. The right side, however, was a different story. Teeth drew unnaturally out of his mouth, some even pierced through his lip. The teeth looked razor sharp, able to tear into flesh like wet toilet paper.

But for all the horror his body displayed, Gaige did not run away or scream in terror. After looking at his unfortunate form for a while, Gaige could see a story told by the unforgiving flesh. A story of torment and anguish. Caine was not something to be feared, but pitied. This sorry soul had more reason than anyone to hate the world for whatever the world had done to him. Gaige gently pressed two fingers to his purple leather neck, searching for a pulse. Her efforts were rewarded with a strong heartbeat.

Unfortunately, that heartbeat came with Caine awakening and springing forward. He grabbed her by the neck and squeezed with his monstrous hand. Gaige could only look into his now open eyes. His left eye was a dark green but his right one was larger and fully colored of a purplish black, giving it the lifeless look of a shark's eye. His right brow was arched in unbridled rage, but his left eye showed…indifference? He opened his mouth and roared like an animal. Gaige grew horrified as she watched the right side of Caine's jaw open wider than the left from his roar. She had a full view of the rest of the frightening teeth within his maw.

Was this even Caine? Did this thing even used to be human? Gaige hoped more and more that this was some sort of terrible dream as her vision began to blur. Caine leaned into her more, bringing that horrid face closer.

"Puny ant, to feed the beast. Its voice must be silent. Caine need silence," he snarled, lavender saliva dripping onto her.

Was he actually thinking about eating her? Caine was clearly farther gone than ever before in the short time Gaige had known him. But Gaige couldn't believe it would end like this. Not like this.

"Ca-Ca…Caine," she chocked out, trying to get through to him. But he responded by squeezing tighter around her throat. And Gaige's world faded farther into the black.

Luckily for her, the fire from the wreck had weakened the ice beneath them, which just decided to break underneath Gaige. Gaige fell straight through the ice, but Caine only got a thorough dunking. The cold water was just what his mind needed to snap him back to sanity, just in time to see Gaige sinking into the chilling depths. Already half suffocated, Gaige immediately breathed in water, and all the quicker, her life passed through her.

"Oh god. What did I do?" Caine stripped off his tattered coats and boots, and then dived in after her.

He swam as hard as he could to get to her. He wrapped his huge arm around her waist and kicked back to the surface. He sucked in the precious air and tossed Gaige ashore, hoisting himself up after.

"A-alright. W-w-wake up now." Caine was already freezing over from the water as he tried to slap Gaige awake. When that didn't work he started CPR.

Carefully bring his sharp mouth to her already frigid lips, he breathed into her. He followed up with chest compressions and began to get a rhythm to his administrations. She wasn't coming to.

"C'mon. Don't be a bitch." He went at her with more chest compressions. "You hate Hyperion. You're a good person." He tried to breathe life into her again. Both of their bodies were gaining a coating of ice, while Gaige's skin grew paler. "C-C'mon. I can't have killed you. Don't let them win." He pounded on her chest and practically screamed air into her lungs.

Gaige woke up coughing water and feeling absolutely frozen. Her lips were to Caine's and she coughed out more water in plain shock. She couldn't say anything. She could only cough and shiver. Caine grabbed what was left of his coats and swaddled Gaige within them.

"Just stay alive you little weakling. Just stay alive." Caine held Gaige, providing what little body warmth he could. He ran their situation through his head and saw the glacier cliff face ahead.

_'We need to get up there.' _He picked up Gaige and started a jog over to the cliff. Thankfully the ice didn't give out again.

"w-w-w-we'll n-never *cough* make it up t-there" Gaige weakly shivered, her face pale.

Caine scoured the cliff face. He then grabbed two pieces of metal and held them up to his feet like he was shopping for shoes.

"You can't. I can. For both of us." Caine looked at the metal. "I just need something to ties these to my feet."

Gaige weakly made a move to offer the garments that were probably the only thing keeping her alive.

"No. Quit being self-righteous and accept my help…God you're so stupid. You should have left me to die." He continued to mumble something along the lines of "deserving it" while he eyed his pants.

Caine ripped the lower pant legs off. He was now wearing a shredded shirt and shorts while soaking wet in below zero temperatures.

_'This is gonna suck.' _He tied the metal to the bottom of his shoes, giving him spikes to kick into the cliff side.

Caine then tossed Gaige over his left shoulder and, using his feet and clawed hand, began to scale the cliff side. When they reached the top, they were greeted with a more brutal wind, freezing them up even more. Caine searched the horizon for…anything.

"N-n-n-n-now w-w-w-w-what?" Gaige was getting worse. She needed shelter, fast. And all the while, Caine was running off of shear will power.

"D-don't worry. It's just a shot away." Caine tried to reassure her, but he had no idea how they would survive this.

"W-w-what does th-that mean?"

"It's an old song from Earth. 20th Century old."

"C-c-c-could y-you sing it?"

Caine shifted Gaige in his arms and looked at her.

"Promise me to stay awake and I'll sing whatever you want." Caine then began to shuffle through the snow. Wandering aimlessly forward was better than nothing.

"I p-p-promise…I h-hope."

"A storm is threat'nin m-my very life today. If I don't get some shelter, I'm g-gonna fade away. Wwwaaar, children! It's just a shot away. It's just a shot away…" Caine sang in a shaky, gruff voice as he soldiered on, his muscles freezing up more with every step.

"**WHERE IS IT-**IS IT-Is It-is it" Krieg's voice echoed through the wind to Caine's ears. He looked up and could swear he saw smoke in the distance. Where there's smoke. There's fire. Where there's fire. There's warmth.

"W-What I tell ya Gaige? I-It's just a s-shot away." But there was no response. Caine checked her pulse. She was still going, but she was fading.

Caine ran as fast as his frozen legs could go, towards the shout, towards the possibly non-existent smoke. Gaige couldn't die. She hated Hyperion. That made her good. And if he could do something about it, he wasn't going to let Jack take another soul. Out of his pure hatred for Hyperion he ran. Not for Gaige's safety, but for his own goal. Saving Gaige was a personal victory over Jack. But rage can only take you so far. Night was falling and the already low temperature with it. Caine had reached his limits. His body was literally freezing around him and Gaige was almost encased in a thin sheet of ice. His stride began to falter. He fell to his knees a number of times, struggling to stay on his feet. But at last, he fell for the final time.

Caine could feel his own heart slowing down, the end drawing near. If only he could keep his heart going, they might make it. Caine looked to his goal again. The smoke was definitely there and relatively close. But he just couldn't make it. He checked Gaige again. Her heart has just about stopped too. Caine looked at his mutated hand. He knew what he could do with it. The wires that ran under his skin were connected to electrical circuits that ran up his spine. His claws were like a live wire that he could switch on an off at will. As he thought of this, visible bolts of electricity arced between his blade fingers. He could jump start her heart, keep her going. But the shock his horrid hand dealt could also kill her. But maybe…if only he touched her with on claw…

_'No. I've caused enough damage.' _He then turned the claw on himself and delivered the shock. Nothing. _'I'm not quitting now.' _ With that he plunged his index claw into his chest, reaching in to directly poke at his own heart. He shocked himself again.

"**GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!**" Caine's throat muscles bulged out of his neck as he screamed harder than anyone could. His body convulsed, making himself dig a bigger hole in his chest. But his efforts were rewarded with his heart racing back to life.

Caine scooped up Gaige in his left arm and raced to the smoke stack, shocking his heart several times over. He charged into the night, coughing up blood from his mouth and chest the whole way.

**Meanwhile…**

Maya felt warm. Oh so comfortably warm. She was lying against a pillow of heat and wrapped in a blanket of warmth. She snuggled into the welcomed heat and slowly opened up her eyes. Her "pillow" was Krieg holding her tight in his arms. They were on a shabby old couch in front of a fire. It's…nice. Maya welcomes Krieg's embrace, whether it be strictly platonic or not. She didn't care. After what they had been through, she would allow him this intimate moment. She would allow herself this intimate moment.

"Pretty lady…alright?" Krieg spoke in his calm tone that Maya knew was only because of her.

"Yes…thank you."

They stayed like that for a while. Staring into each other's eyes, enjoying each other's presence. Then the door sounded with a powerful kick followed by the sound of footsteps and ragged breathing. Caine stepped into the room, carrying a Gaige sized bundle of clothes. Both were covered in snow and barely recognizable. Caine's entire front side was stained red with blood. He dropped to his knees just within the reach of the fireplace's warmth.

"Th-thanks f-f-for c-coming to s-save us…assholes." And with that he face planted into the ice floor.

**What a long chapter eh?**

**I just kept typing and typing, the drama flowing through me xD**

**Anyway, leave a comment or a review if you enjoyed.**

**Stay Frosty (not like Caine and Gaige xD)**

**B**


	7. Fell On Black Days

Chapter 7: Fell On Black Days

**Caine point of view**

I'm running. Running across a desert I don't know. The sands sift under my feet, unlike the parched Earth of my homeland. I rise over great dunes of white sand; my sinking footfalls slowing me down. What am I running from? Probably the same thing I'm always running from in this nightmare.

I know I'm dreaming because I look normal. I look at myself as I run to see my old body. I miss the tattoo on my right arm. It may have been a crude looking Celtic band but it reminded me of better days in my times of need. Nowadays, I don't even have that simple comfort. Now I would look at my bicep, where the tattoo should be, and see only the scarred, mutated, purple flesh. But in this dream I could see the shotty artistry and normal skin.

But I was still running. As always. Whenever I sleep I'm running in fear. The landscape around me sometimes changes, but the action stays the same. I don't want to look back, and most nights I don't. But sometimes, I look over my shoulder. And I'll always be there, disgusting and mutated, chasing myself. I guess I'm running because I wish it wasn't true. I wish I could somehow get away and maybe, just maybe, when I wake up I won't be a hideous freak anymore.

But every night, every single time I close my eyes, I'm caught. No matter how fast I run; no matter how hard I pump my legs; no matter how light headed I get from running for so long, I get caught. The monster I've become grabs hold of me and I'm forced to look, drink in the horrid image. And those are the good nightmares; the ones where I'll spring awake as soon as I make eye contact with that grotesque void of a right eye. Then there's the bad nightmares, where I stay asleep a little longer to feel the claws rip into me. I tear my former self apart and I feel it all.

Then there are worse nights still. Sometimes I survive the mauling, only to feel the jagged teeth sink into my side. I feel my flesh tear away in bites. But I also taste the blood on my tongue. I savor the texture of living tissue as I eat. Oh god…what am I? And those aren't even the worst nights. The worst nights are when I remember all the horrible things I've done. The people I've killed, the child I…ate, the man I…I…I don't even want to talk about it. I relive the memories and no matter how hard I try, I can't stop myself.

It's no wonder I'm so riled up whenever I wake. But this time, something's different. I'm not sure what it is, but something is definitely different. But why should it be? I'm not getting any less ugly every day. So why do I feel like there's something different? Whatever it is though, it doesn't stop me from running. The sun is beginning to set on my nightmarish desert and I can't help but notice a shadow cast from the horizon. I look toward the setting sun. There's a figure, small in stature.

_'A third person? But what does that mean?! Who are they?!' _As I contemplated this I didn't realize I had stopped running to stare at the distant bystander.

"**NOW YOU'RE MINE!**" And the claws come crashing down.

**Third person view**

Caine was shocked awake and he vaulted up from his bed mat. He was coated in a thick sweat and breathing heavily, side effects of his night terrors. He saw his ever present right arm and compulsively wrapped his blanket around himself so he wouldn't have to see. He saw fresh pants and a shirt at his feet.

_'Wait a minute. Blanket, mat, clothes?' _Caine also felt the warmth of fire nearby.

"Where the hell am I?"

"Oh good you're finally awake," Gaige said coming up behind him.

Caine spun around in surprise. Gaige couldn't help but flinch, thinking she may be in for another chocking. Caine noticed this and the memories suddenly came back to him. Instantly he felt ashamed and pulled the blanket over his head, trying to conceal his scary face. Then Gaige took notice to this and slowly shuffled over to his side. She sat down next to his mat as Caine turned his right side away from her. They sat like this for a while, Gaige looking into what little eye Caine would provide her as he avoided eye contact at all costs.

"Thanks for saving me." Gaige looked away from him, deciding he didn't want the visual attention. "You could have left me, saved yourself a lot of pain…" Caine was still silent and looking away from her.

"You were touch and go there for a while. You had barely enough blood in your system to keep you alive and parts of your skin were literally frozen." Gaige forced a chuckle to lighten the mood. "We couldn't tell where the frostbite ended and your…uuh…" Gaige shut her mouth, remembering Caine's right half was a rather tender subject.

"My slag burns." Gaige looked up to his voice. Caine was still not looking at her, but at least he was a little less catatonic. "You were going to say you couldn't tell where my slag burns began."

"…Yeah…and…we pumped you full of Insta-Healths…but they…"

"They didn't close the wounds on my right side…They never do…"

Gaige saw an almost unnoticeable added moisture to Caine's visible eye. Gaige's heart leapt into her throat. She wanted to hug Caine, to tell him it was okay to cry. She wanted to tell him to let it all out. She would let him cry on her shoulder, if he would let himself. But she restrained herself, hugging her knees to her chest, resting her chin upon them.

_'Why do I care for him so much? I just met the guy and he's tried to kill me twice…But then he saved my life, almost losing his own. I know he's a psycho and he can't control himself, but hell, I'm fawning over him without knowing anything about him.'_

"I'm like a lost puppy." Gaige looks over to Caine, perplexed by this strange statement. Caine was looking back at her, his less appealing half shrouded in the cloth.

"I'm hurt and all alone and you can't fight this maternal feeling to take care of me. You don't really feel anything for me. I'm just a tryst of the moment. You want to say you care. But as soon as I bite your hand, you'll realize I'm just a worthless mutt and leave me be."

Caine knew he came off as cold. But he had to. He could tell what was going on in young Gaige's head. He had to protect her from her own bad decisions. She was just under the "lost puppy" spell and was bound to do something she would regret. Or worse, he might go along with it and get his heart smashed in. More so than it already is.

_'No one really cares about me. Not even her, she just doesn't realize it yet. Might as well save her the trouble.' _Caine stared back into her eyes, steeling himself from his ongoing depression.

Gaige's eyes began to swell up. Caine knew this might happen. But this was for both of their well-being. He had to wound her now so they wouldn't wound each other later. But to his surprise, Gaige's right hand came smacking across his face, exposing the terrible skin. After recoiling, Caine looked up at Gaige, dumbfounded. Hot, angry tears streamed down Gaige's beautiful pale cheeks. She looked Caine right in the eye, unfazed by his face. Then, without a word, she got up and walked around the corner.

Now, Caine was smart. Very smart. He could predict the behavior of others just by looking at them long enough. It was a trait that he wasn't proud of. Nor was he ashamed of it. He was just indifferent. Then again, Caine was either indifferent or against everything. But these three Vault hunters…they baffled him. Krieg was more of a psycho than he was and was absolutely unpredictable. Maya was a mystery that he had yet to unravel, probably because she's a Siren. And Gaige…

_'I don't understand…She acts like no one else. She doesn't judge me for what I am…that much I can tell. But why? How? How is she different? And why…why do I feel different…about her? She tries to get close and I push her away. But then she backs off on her own and I…I…'_

Caine truly did not know what to think. He has spent so much of his life boiling in hate and depression; he doesn't even know what positive feelings felt like. But the more Caine pondered on this subject, the more he wanted to solve it. To him, Gaige was now a puzzle. A grand puzzle that he felt the strongest urge to solve. Little did he know that these urges where much more than that.

**Meanwhile…**

Gaige walked into the other room, if you could call the space "separated" by a piece of sheet metal another room. She was sniffling back her tears and Maya's female-in-need radar pinged on. She spun around to see Gaige sitting down at the table, kicking one of the Claptrap bodies out.

"What's up?" Maya sat across from her.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing." Gaige did not dare to look at Maya. But Maya did it for her, grabbing Gaige's chin to face her.

"What happened sweetie?" But Gaige shook free of Maya's grasp.

"Don't call me sweetie…" Maya continued to bore holes into Gaige's soul, bringing her closer and closer to exploding.

"He doesn't want our help, okay! I was just trying to be nice to the poor guy! God knows when the last time he was treated like a human being! But he just pushed me away! I don't…I can't…" Gaige was trying her damnedest to hold back her tears.

_'Why? Why do I care soooo much!'_

Maya came over to Gaige's side and crouched down next to her. She took hold of Gaige's shoulders in an affectionate squeeze. Gaige just barely stopped her water works. Maya was silent for a bit, searching for the right words to say.

"Why are you on this planet, Gaige?" Gaige looked to Maya, not understanding, but she answered her anyway.

"Be-because…I had to leave my old life behind. I'm on the run…"

"That's a lonely life you have there." Maya searched for her words once more. "You…you need friends on Pandora. And right now, you're reaching out…to fill the void of being separated from your friends and family back home."

Gaige thought about this for a moment and realized this to be true. But how can she get buddy-buddy if Caine continues to be hostile or benign.

"That doesn't solve the problem with Caine…how can any of us get through a psychotic mind as far gone as his." Maya looked at Gaige with a quirked eyebrow, letting it all sink in for Gaige. "Oh I…I didn't mean…"

Maya hushed Gaige and settled to give her advice.

"If it's one thing I learned on just my first day here, it's that here is often more to this planet than beats the eye. The same goes for the natives. So…so keep trying…I mean look at Krieg. He is every bit psycho, hell, he even dresses and fights like them. But after a fight, he can stop. And that look in his eye…" Maya smiled to herself, knowing full well what his looks usually meant. "You just know there's more going on in his head than just meat."

Gaige giggles at this, recalling Krieg's many battle cries. But she also laughed because she knew about how Krieg looked at Maya as well. They had been in this little shelter for the night and into the next day. In that time, anyone could spot Krieg's puppy-dog eye. Maya began laughing with her and soon they were a chatty little corner of the room. But then Claptrap had to come in and ruin it all.

[Hahahahaha! What are we laughing about?!] Gaige and Maya instantly gave Claptrap the gossip-girl stink eye, but the silly little robot did not understand. The following awkward silence was broken by a rumble in Gaige's stomach.

"Right I was looking around for canned food earlier." Maya got up and restarted her search. Joining her, Gaige reignited their conversation.

"So where is Krieg anyway?"

"As soon as I started talking about finding food he screamed 'the meat fiesta shall return' and ran out the back door."

"Out there? In the storm? With no shirt on?" Maya laughed and shook her head for Gaige.

"No. I found a coat big enough for him. Although, getting him to put it on was an adventure in its self. Also, the storm had stopped for a while now. He'll be fine…right?"

"Hehe. Yeah princess, Prince Charming will be fine."

"Shut up," Maya playfully exclaimed, throwing some paper balls at Gaige.

Gaige couldn't do much for the onslaught to her left side, for her robotic arm was still dysfunctional. Maya took notice to this.

"You still haven't fixed your arm? I would have thought you'd have stayed up all night fixing it."

"I did, but I need some new wires. And none of the Claptrap units have any. I think Claptrap may have chopped them to keep himself going. Either way there's no good electrical wire in this dump."

[Yeah sorry about the mess. Whatever Jack kills, he dumps here. Bandits, Vault hunters, Claptrap units. If I sound pleased about this, it's because my programmers made this my default tone of voice. I'm actually quite depressed!] Cheery as ever that one.

A deep voiced grunting sound could be heard behind the gang. They turned to see Caine. He had found a hooded cloak, a scarf and shaded snow goggles. Out from under his cloak, his left hand presented a long piece of wire to Gaige. Seeing the wire was covered in a purple residue, Gaige put two and two together.

"Caine, no. You don't have to do that."

Caine's only response was to expose his arm. Gaige's sight was drawn to one of his wounds. Caine flexed his muscles and Gaige saw the all too familiar square flashes of digistruction. The wire was rebuilt within the wound, good as new. He then turned away and left Gaige with her needed wire and her mouth agape. Just as she was about to go after him, a bang at the back door made everyone jump out of their skin. Krieg came in, dragging a mostly intake bullymong behind him.

"THE MEAT FIESTA IS HERE!"

Everyone stared. Maya broke the silence.

"Uuh…thanks Krieg. But does anyone know how to skin this thing?"

Krieg's eye shone a look of embarrassment.

_'Well we didn't think of that one.'_

"EAT AROUND!"

"Sorry, Krieg. But I think even you would prefer to not be coughing up hair balls. Besides, there are no more coats for Gaige around here. If we could just skin it…" Maya was quite serious about this. She found an old, rusty knife and began her clumsy attempts at removing the animal's hide.

Caine heard the entire conversation in the next room. He was just deciding to leave it be when he heard that Krieg brought in a bullymong and knew he had to help them. Then he knew he wanted to help when he heard Gaige was without a coat. He perked up and moved into the other room. He stopped Maya at her quest with a touch on her shoulder. She backed off and Caine threw the beast onto his back. He shot a glance over at the still befuddled (xD) Gaige.

"Get to work on your arm. I'll be done in a couple hours." And he walked back into his corner of the shelter.

Gaige couldn't take it anymore. She had to say something to Caine. She quietly walked up behind him. He was already getting to work on preparing the animal. He used his claw to split the creature down the middle from collar bone to pelvis. He was no pulling its entrails out, which reeked of a rotting skunk. Caine knew Gaige was behind him, but it didn't stop him on his task.

"Bullymongs' organs are held together in a two layer sack," he explained as he started to ply the hide from its ribcage, "When they die, the inner layer quickly dissolves. Between the two layers is a toxic acid. The acid is released into the organs, making them deadly to eat."

Gaige was just holding back her retching, but she kept on listening.

"When the acid soaks into the heart, the last few pumps of blood spreads it into the surrounding muscle." Caine was now expertly peeling the skin off of the bullymong like it was a jacket. "It's a defense mechanism. Skags used to hunt these things before they evolved to grow three times a skag's size. But hunters still drove them up here, to the colder edges of Pandora. Now, they have no predators, overrun the tundra, and have the warmest furs on the planet." With that the bullymong's hide was off and Caine was getting to work on separating the toxic meat from the edible. He took a moment to think.

"It looks like the arms are ruined. That's usually the case. No matter. The thighs are more tender and tasteful any way."

Gaige put her hand on Caine's shoulder. He froze in place, staring ahead.

"Thank you…for everything…" Gaige waited for a response but received none. She slowly pulled away and turned to leave him.

"I'm sorry…for everything..." Gaige stopped in her tracks at Caine's words, but neither of them turned to look back at the other. Yet a small smile came to Gaige's mouth. They were making progress.

"I know you've fallen on black days before," Gaige explained. She turned to face Caine, who slowly did the same. "But not with us. You can trust us."

Gaige was just about to specify that Caine could trust her, but she held her tongue.

_'I don't want to push him too hard. Not yet.' _And she continued on her way, leaving Caine to his work.

**Enjoy the reading? Leave a comment/review/rating/critique/whatever. :3**

**Stay Frosty,**

**B**


	8. Coats

Chapter 8: Coats

Gaige's stomach grumbled once again, louder than before.

"Geez girl, at least show some restraint." Maya was just joking with her, but Gaige has been getting antsy.

"Don't pretend for one second that smell is not setting you on edge!"

"Find something to occupy your time."

"I did! I've already fixed my arm, did a damage assessment on the summoning rod for DT in my forearm, dug out chunks of Hyperion goons form my hand's gears, concluded that I shouldn't directly hit anyone with said hand cuz their face will just jam up my hand again, looked for a hammer or something I could use for a melee weapon, and found one! Now I have to sit here and be tortuuuuured!"

Gaige was right. Caine had been slow roasting the bullymong flanks for 30 minutes now. What was worse, they managed to find an entire case of spices and dried aromatics. The smell was all the more tantalizing. Maya's own stomach was whining and Maya had to keep Krieg from fighting Caine for the food every two minutes. They all hadn't eaten in a while and they were all on edge with hunger. But just before the ladies were about to fully lose control, Caine appeared with the prize.

"Don't kill each other now. You're a bunch of ravenous animals." He sat a platter before them, holding the beautiful roast. And everyone dug in…after Maya phaselocked Krieg to keep him from taking the entire thing for himself.

"Glad to see you're feeling like yourself again." Gaige was referring to his insulting nature. Maya and her laughed it out as Caine silently cut the roast.

Caine then divided the bounty amongst the four of them. They all sat down at the table and began their feast. But as the women began to gently tear apart their meals, both men had a revelation.

_'We're going to have to take off our masks.' _Both of them mentally freaked out. But Caine had a good excuse.

"I'm gonna keep on working on the hide as I eat." He grabbed his plate and scurried off.

"DARBLE GRABLE AND MELTING MEAT IN MY MOUTH!" Krieg did the same, but with less…finesse.

Gaige and Maya knew exactly what was up. Gaige moved to stop Caine, but Maya nudged her foot under the table and shook her head. The ladies let their psychos be as they ate in the next room. Maya would be lying to herself if she said she didn't want to see Krieg's face. Yet she understood the boundaries of one's privacy. Krieg and Caine shall willingly show their faces when they're comfortable with it and no sooner than that.

In the other room, Caine actually was working on Gaige's coat, nibbling on his bullymong roast every now and again. The hide was cleaned and dried. Now he had to form the sleeves.

_'Well that'll be easy enough. I'll just use the surplus of hide from its four arms. In fact, they're already in a sleeve like shape. Or they would if Krieg didn't snap three of its arms in half.'_

Caine got to work on sewing together a couple sleeves as Krieg settled in a dark corner of the room.

_'He's full of surprises isn't he,' _Krieg thought to himself. _'He still attacked us. Keep an eye on him.'_

Krieg lifted his mask, just enough to expose his mouth. He gulped down his food while his vision was block by his displaced mask. He quickly finished his meal and pulled down his mask, bringing Caine into view again. Only this time, Caine was right in his face. Krieg jumped and launched his hand forward to wring Caine's neck. Caine grabbed Krieg's arms and began to speak with him in a hushed tone.

"I know you don't trust me, but I can't trust you when you're giving me the death stare. We're one and the same, Caine and Krieg hate Hyperion." Caine was getting a little riled up from struggling with Krieg, and so was his insanity.

Krieg was getting angry as well, yet somehow he kept his voice down.

"Meat puppets to pound."

"Yeah yeah. Caine kill bitches, Krieg kill too. Same." With this Caine let Krieg go and exposed his face to him.

This was the first time Krieg has got a good look at Caine. He drank in the sight. The big, dark eye. The jagged teeth. All held together with his slag burns. But Krieg, frankly, has seen some shit. So he looked at Caine's face overall, while the ladies had looked only at the dreaded right side. And Krieg noticed something they hadn't. A number code, tattooed across Caine's left temple.

It reads: 3-1-9-14-5

Caine saw Krieg stare at his number code. With his sanity coming back, he explained its meaning to Krieg.

"The same people that did this to me," he gestured to his hideous deformities, "marked me with this code."

Krieg stared at it a while longer. And just before the moment became any more awkward, Krieg brought a hand to his mask. With a breath of hesitation he removed his own mask. Hidden under the extra strap on Krieg's right temple, is his own number code.

His reads: 8-20-12-7-6

Caine stared at Krieg's code and Krieg stared at his.

"Well…that's a plot twist…uuh…" (xD) Caine searched for the least awkward way of recognizing their new companionship. He reached out and patted Krieg on the shoulder. "I uuh…I feel ya…"

"MEAT MARAUDERS TOGETHER!" Hushed tones were abandoned as they now had nothing between them to keep from the girls.

"Yeah, whatever you say." And they donned their masks and moved on.

**Meanwhile…**

"Maya, you can't expect me to be okay with this." Gaige and Maya were leaning close to each other and arguing in whisper as soon as the guys left the room. "You told me we need friends on this planet. Then why are we letting Caine and Krieg isolate themselves like that?"

"Krieg and Caine clearly have insecurities about showing their faces-"

"Then we should be supportive of them right?" Gaige was getting flustered, interrupting Maya like that.

"No. We need to give it time. No matter how much we feel like we need to help them, we still don't know them. It's not our place to push them."

Gaige considered her words. She sat back in her chair and worked on her food as she thought.

_'She's probably right. We don't even know these guys. Trying to push them to being more open may push them farther away. If we want them to feel comfortable with us, so they don't suddenly snap and kill us both, we shouldn't push them to normalcy so soon…She is right. It's not our place…'_

"Not yet…" Gaige unintentionally finished her thought in a mumble.

Maya looked at Gaige, a smirk on her face. Gaige's face flushed red and the longer the silence strained on, the more her face resembled a candied cherry.

"MEAT MARAUDERS TOGETHER!" Maya turned her head to Krieg's sudden holler in the other room.

"Sounds like the guys are getting along…" Maya turned to apologize for putting Gaige in the hot seat, but she wasn't there. Gaige had sprinted out back so she could recover from her roasting.

Gaige sat out in the cold. It helped remove the heat in her cheeks. That was a blatant show of affection. Gaige had been knocking around it for the past few hours, but now she confirmed it to herself. She has feelings for Caine. She couldn't explain them, but she did.

_'I can't. I can't be drooling over some guy I just met.' _Gaige rubbed her temples in thought. _'Why?! Why do I have these feelings?! Is it because he saved me? I know I owe him, but I don't OWE him…do I?'_

"Uuuugh!" Gaige stood and threw up her hands in frustration. "…I wish you were here mom…you'd understand." And the memories came rushing to her.

She remembered the first time she scraped her knee. Her dad picked her up and brought her inside. Her mom patched her up and gave her a kiss on the head. She remembered all the parties, hers and theirs. She remembered the first time she had feelings for a boy. Her mom smiled so warmly as Gaige screamed about how little Thomas drove her nuts. She remembered going to her dad's work place. She remembered watching her dad put together all sorts of gadgets out of nothing. She remembered her first science project: a miniature fusion engine, sloppy as hell.

In fact, at that point there were no other boys. Gaige became a little anti-social and spent her time tinkering with anything and everything. It was just her and her family. It would be safe to say, Gaige never got a full grasp of attraction and love. She had the greatest grasp of family. But these feelings, they were foreign to her.

Remembering that she'll probably never see her parents again, coupled with her sad realization of her social awkwardness, brought Gaige to tears. She fell down into the snow, sobbing. She hugged up her knees and let it all out, freezing her butt off in the process.

Maya was inside the door frame, watching Gaige from afar. She thought she should probably let her be, but she couldn't leave her out there with no coat, in good conscience. She needed to get Gaige a coat without upsetting her further.

_'Toss her a coat? No that'll just seem benign to her feelings. Maybe Caine is done and could do it. No he's the subject of this…Well that leaves Krieg…But can Krieg be gentle and silently leave her my coat? I guess there's a way to find out.'_

Maya came back inside and approached Krieg.

"Uuh Krieg. I need you do something for me."

_'Anything'_

"THE MEAT IS WAITING BLUE LADY!"

Maya took off her jacket and handed it over to Krieg.

"Go outside and give this to Gaige."

Krieg eyed the coat for a moment then shoved back into Maya's hands.

"YOURS!'

"I know it's mine but Gaige is out there without one." She hands it back to Krieg who does the same. "Will you stop it! Just give it to her."

Krieg shrunk back from her outburst.

"Oh I-I'm sorry. God I keep screwing up with people."

"NO! NO BLUE!" Maya sighed at her predicament.

"Look Krieg…I hurt Gaige's feelings and I need you to give this to her…out of forgiveness."

Krieg still protested. That coat was for her and her alone. Krieg would maul anyone who would try to take it. He would not let Maya go cold.

_'She'll be alright in here. Let's do what she says. It'll make her happy.' _But the crazy Krieg wouldn't have it.

"Grrr. Your. Coat."

"Krieg, please. Please just do this…for me?" As she said this, Maya placed the coat in his hands again, making sure to softly graze his forearm with her dainty fingers as she did.

Krieg was in it now. He stared at his forearm, now blessed by a goddess. Crazy Krieg slowly shook free of his disposition but he still wouldn't leave Maya coatless. He shed his own coat and put it over Maya's shoulders. The coat was more like a blanket to her smaller form, but she accepted it. Maya knew Krieg wouldn't do this any other way.

Krieg then headed to the door and Maya followed. Once outside, Maya hanged back as Krieg shuffled Gaige's direction. As Krieg got closer he could see Gaige was crying.

_'Oh man. She's crying. Careful here. For all we know she could be a ticking time bomb right now.'_

Krieg was now behind Gaige but he was at a loss on what to do. He looked back at Maya for assistance. Maya all but face-palmed but she kept her cool. She proceeded to make a gesture for Krieg to place the coat on Gaige's shoulders. But Krieg turned back a tossed the coat over Gaige's head.

"Aaaah!" Gaige, thinking she was being bagged scurried to her feet. But she wasn't that reassured when she saw it was Krieg. "Krieg, what the hell?!"

"Uuuuh. FREEZER BURN!"

Gaige looked to the coat she knew as Maya's, then back to Krieg. Slowly she brought herself up to speed.

"Okay…tell…tell Maya thanks."

"QUEST COMPLETE!"

_'All hail Krieg, coat provider and jacket steward! Who has single handedly got close enough to suavely solving girl problems,' _Krieg's sane half mentally applauded himself.

"You can go now Krieg."

Krieg snapped back to reality to realize he was striking a heroic pose in front of Gaige. He lumbered off to give Maya the news.

"So what did she say over there?"

_'Oh crap. How are we supposed to tell her that? Okay. Okay…just say thank you. Concentrate and say it.'_

"NIPPLE SALADS!"

_'Dammit'_

"I'm going to take that as she said thank you…" Krieg shook his head yes and Maya smiled at this.

_'Hey, close enough.'_

[AAAAAAAAAAAAH! MY EYE! WHY?!]

"What was that?" Maya and Krieg rushed in to see what Claptrap's commotion was about. They found Claptrap wandering about with no eye and Caine's head buried into the snow-packed wall.

**Going back a bit to give a 'Meanwhile…' for Caine! :3**

"Alright the coat is done." Caine smiled to himself as he held up the finished product. It wasn't the prettiest fur coat in the world but it would be effective, which is what matters to Gaige.

[Oooouh. A bullymong fur coat? I love that stuff! It's soft, warm, and really good at absorbing robot tears!]

"Are you even capable of any of those things?"

[That's beside the point]

"And the point is beside the fact you don't have humanity."

[…ooooh I see what you did there! Anyway, the last time I saw one of those it didn't have fur on the inside. But yours does. Why is that?]

"Because having the soft, warm, and robot tear absorbent fur on the inside makes the coat comfortable. Then the fur on the outside makes the coat warm. All in all, this is a great coat…for a deserving person."

[Hey, when we leave for Liarsburg, do you think you could make a coat out of Knuckledragger?]

"Who's Knuckledragger?"

[He's this really big old alpha bullymong. Killed everyone I know. In fact, he attacked Liarsburg when the town had a big bullymong feast one time. Hammerlock said older bullymongs begin to understand the concept of vengeance and-]

"Wait! What did you say?!"

And as if on cue, a huge bullymong came crashing through the roof. Before Caine could act, he was slapped across the room, slamming his head into the snow wall. Then it grabbed Claptrap, ripping out his eye.

[MY EYE! WHY?!]

Krieg and Maya came bounding into the room just as it left them behind. Caine pulled his head out of the wall and was quite…frustrated.

"GRRRRAAH! FUCKING SHIT STAIN! NO ONE MAKE FOOL OF CAINE! CAINE FIND YOU! CAINE KILL YOU! CAINE FEAST ON YOUR BONES!"

"Hey is everything alright? I saw a big bullymong running away from here." Gaige came sauntering in at just the wrong time.

Caine spun around, claws raised. He was so angry and crazy he could kill anything right now. Maya was too slow to realize what was happening and phaselock Caine. So his claws came crashing down. Thankfully though, Gaige raised a flinching defense with her robotic arm and the clash was harmless. After the sharp clang and Gaige screaming in fear the room fell silent.

Gaige's scream brought Caine back and he saw her down on the ground. She made no attempt to distance herself from him, but she kept on a face of fear. Caine looked at his monstrous hand, then back to Gaige. Just as Gaige registered Caine was no longer a threat, he sprinted out the door, dropping the ruggedly beautiful fur coat behind him.

**DRAMAAAA! xD**

**Like/comment/review/etc. if you enjoyed**

**Stay Frosty, B**


	9. Just A Little Crazy

Chapter 9: Just A Little Crazy

"PURPLE MEAT NO CONTROL FORK!"

"No Krieg! That's the third time he's tried to kill one of us! If it wasn't for Gaige's mech-arm she might've been dead now!"

"But he didn't! He stopped! Maya just hear me out!"

"NO! We're not going after him. He may have saved you, but he is uncontrollable. That one right does not make up for his many wrongs."

"Uncontrollable? Many wrongs? Who are you to decide this?! What makes your lover-boy here controllable?! You won't give Caine a chance!"

"I gave him a chance by not killing him on the train!"

"You don't even know him!"

"Neither do you Gaige! None of us know him! We only met him yesterday!"

"We ALL only met yesterday, yet you and Krieg are the best of friends and you're treating me like you're my mother. No. I take that back. My mother is waaaaay better than you!"

Gaige rushed out the door, going after Caine.

"Gaige wait." Maya was on her heels. "I just think you're not thinking straight."

Gaige came upon the bullymong coat. It wasn't the prettiest thing, but it was soft and had an adorable hood. It had patch work and large stitching that made it look feisty.

_'Feisty…just like me.' _Gaige turned to Maya, coat in hand.

"Look at this coat Maya." Maya just quirked here brow ay her, clearly confused by the sudden change in argument. "Look at it!" Gaige shoved the coat forward, giving Maya an eye full. "Does this look like the work of an uncontrollable psychopath to you?"

Gaige was right. The coat was made with some skill. The fur flowed in the right directions. The hood wasn't in any way awkwardly attached. The hems were fluffed out to lock in the wearer's body heat. There were leather tassels to close the coat, all placed with correct measurement. In fact, the only problems was the stitching that held smaller scraps of fur together to form the hood and connecting the sleeves to the body.

"You keep talking about how we just met," Gaige began with a much calmer tone. "You are right. We don't know each other. But you trust Krieg and I don't you?"

Maya thought for a moment, but slowly nodded here head.

"See? You trust a psycho. A conceivably much more predictable psycho, but he's still crazy. And you've grown to trust a complete stranger like me. Is it not safe to say that sort of reasoning is not exactly of a person who's thinking straight?"

Maya was astonished. She never considered this. These past hours of her life have flipped all manner of reason upside down. What was she thinking? She's practically smitten with a sadist and her closest friend was a girl genius that could make murderous mech out of cardboard, paperclips and a potato. Gaige could see the realization in Maya's eyes and continued.

"Everything about this planet is crazy…To survive here…you gotta be a little crazy yourself. You can't think straight here because you won't understand this world. And to not understand this place is to die. Here, it's okay for us to trust each other after just one day. And it's okay for you to be friends with Krieg. And it's okay for me to…to…"

Gaige looked down at the coat in thought.

"I have to go after him…and I'm going alone. It's what he needs."

"Gaige, no-"

"I'm serious Maya." Gaige pulled on the coat.

_'God this is so comfy and warm. Note to self: thank Caine.'_

Gaige turned to start on her way.

"I'll catch up with you later. Go hunt down that bullymong with Krieg. Claptrap is the only one that knows how to get to the next closest thing to civilization. We need his eye."

[Aaah don't worry about me. I know my way around this area like I know my circuit board. But you'll need this.] Claptrap blindly hands Maya a crappy looking pistol. Maya immediately tries to give it to Gaige, but she shakes her head.

"I won't need it," Gaige said with a reassuring smile that lit up her cute face with determination.

"How can you be so sure?"

Gaige starts walking away again.

"Like I said Maya. You have to be just a little crazy on Pandora."

"How do you know where he went?" Maya called out behind her.

"I don't. But he carried me up a cliff one handed. Since he wanted to be alone, I'm guessing he's up high." And she was off, heading forward to a sunken cliff side, searching for any stair-like formations to the top.

Maya watched her go and sighed. There was no fighting that girl. She's got nerves of steel, a soul of platinum and a heart of tender gold.

"Boom time?"

Krieg was behind Maya, in his coat and ready to go. Maya smiled, comforted by his presence. It was a nice change of pace to the heated argument and emotional girl talk.

"Sure big guy. Boom time." Maya turned to start following their blind guide but did not find Claptrap. "Huh, he must have gone on ahead. He said he'll pick up the signal from this ECHO communicator." She pulled out the tablet Claptrap had given her. "It's funny. I never activated this thing."

Maya double tapped the small screen to activate the device. Maya was expecting a map with ECHO signal pings so she could track the little bot, but she was greeted with something else entirely. It was the face of a young woman. Her skin was as pale as snow. Her hair was jet black and half shaved. On her bald side, there were what appeared to be electrical outlets set into her skull. Her eyes pierced through a fog of static and voice came with them.

[Hello. I don't have much time to explain, but you are alive for a reason. This planet needs a hero like you to save us from Hyperion. And I am here to help you. I've hacked my way onto the ECHO net to stay connected. You must go to the town of Sanctuary. Stick with that funny little robot. He knows the way.] Maya understood but she was still dazed and confused.

"Who are you? How do I know you're not with Hyperion?" The picture was gone and Maya was left to stare. But just as Maya was about to put the tablet away, the woman came back, but for only a moment.

[You just have to trust me.] And she was gone again.

Maya considered her words. This mysterious woman knew they were alive before she turned on the ECHO communicator.

_'So we're being watched? How's that?' _Maya's facade was struck by a sudden realization face. She looked up.

It was all so clear now. That train was a preplanned trap for Vault hunters. Maya remembered the news reports of why Hyperion was occupying Pandora. They're searching for another Vault. And just like Atlas before them, they'll kill anyone that stands in their way. So when they blew up that train, it would only be good business for them to send satellites or drones to scope out the wreck site.

_'But wouldn't that mean the woman is working for Hyperion if she knew about us? But her transmission was staticy and garbled. Maybe she really did hack the network.'_

Maya kept wracking her brain on the subject. Who was this woman? Why did she call them heroes? And what was this Sanctuary she spoke of? A Vault hunter hub? Maya isn't on this planet to hunt Vaults. She's here to discover what it means to be a Siren. Yet everything she knows about Sirens already keeps bringing up the Vault. Maybe becoming a Vault hunter would actually help her.

"Tell me Krieg, do you want to be a Vault hunter?"

_'Vaults…that rings a bell. It may have been important to us before. And if it's important to her, then it's important to us.'_

"OOOOH YYYEEESS!" Maya smiled at his enthusiasm.

[Hey guys! Are you going to follow me or what?]

Maya accessed the map and followed the signal to Claptrap, Krieg in toe. They came to a small clearing where Claptrap awaits them. After making conversation on Sanctuary and Vault hunters, Claptrap jumped for joy.

[Man this is great! I've been waiting for a mighty warrior to help me reach Sanctuary. I will be your wise leader. And you will be my fearsome minions! Let's go! Let me know if I'm going to run into anything.] Just then Claptrap turned around and crashed into a bullymong nest.

"Uuh woops." Maya didn't exactly feel sorry. In fact that was actually kind of funny.

But not as funny as when Claptrap gets thrown out of the hole and down a cliff by bullymongs.

[I'll just assume you didn't see thaaaaaaaa-] Claptrap was still hollering as he went soaring away.

"Looks like we got a fight on our hands Krieg."

"GOOD!"

Maya phaselocked a bullymong and fired upon another. Krieg rushed ahead to cut open his next victims. These bullymongs were only younglings and quickly became Krieg and Maya's next work of street art. If Maya had to name it, it would be called Death in White.

The ground soaked in the crimson, accepting the paint of murder. Bullymongs lay scattered about. The variety of their death adding to the artistry. One phase crushed, some shot, others missing limbs, and at the center piece was the unfortunate one being chocked by its own entrails. It squealed in its last moment with pitiful disdain as Krieg pulled harder, attracting even more lambs to the slaughter.

Krieg jumped down the cliff to bisect a bullymong's skull. These bullymong were larger and seemingly pissed off. Maybe they just killed their children. No matter, there's more bullymongs on this planet than people, thinning the ranks was the least of Maya's problems. She reloaded and unloaded her gun into her next target as she jumped down to Krieg's position.

_'We work so well with each other,' _Maya thought as Krieg threw his axe at a bullymong behind her and she covered his flank. _'His thicker than concrete flank…Geeze Maya get ahold of yourself.'_

Maya phaselocked another bullymong and tossed it into another. Krieg followed up with fatal slices.

"RED! I SEE REEEEEEED!"

Blood coated Krieg's front side. Krieg never zipped up that coat of his and now it acted like curtains to a stage. And Krieg's bountiful abs were sadistically oiled up for the show.

_'I wonder if Krieg's thoughts are just as vulgar about me.'_

_'MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT'_

_'I wonder how stupid Maya thinks you are.'_

The battle was won and the two were left to stare at each other.

_'Man she's so perfect. Her perfect hair. Her perfect eyes. Her perfect lips. Her perfect ass. Her just the right size breasts. We need to figure out what makes her tick, appeal to her likes and joys and stuff like that and…damn…how long has it been for us? I'm about to lose my gentlemanliness over here. Stop staring we're gonna scare her.'_

Maya couldn't help but feel a sense of gratification as Krieg broke the staring contest first. She put on her heart melting smile for Krieg to reward his efforts.

_'Sooner or later, I'm going to find out what goes on inside that head of his.'_

[Hey thanks for the rescue. Now get me out of here before more bullymongs arrive.]

Claptrap was half buried into the snow head first. His voice was muffled as he asked for help in the most egotistical way possible. Krieg moved to help, anything to break the awkward feeling he had forming in his chest. But Maya grabbed his arm.

"Let him squirm for a bit." Maya smiled some more, but this time with her devious intent.

Krieg shrugged his shoulders and began scrounging through some old Hyperion crates, finding ammo for guns they didn't have. Maya leaned up against a now crimson bullymong nest entrance. She watched Krieg toss around junk from a scrap pile.

_'Just how many crashed trains, ships and such are here? We're going to be facing off against a great foe…this Handsome Jack guy. Danger and peril around every corner…Sounds like fun.'_

[Can't help but notice you're not getting me out of here. Maybe you're thinking: 'Oh Claptrap is such a noble paragon of justice and skill; he can get out himself.' Which most of the time you would be totally right about. But as it stands now, I could use some help.]

_'Well that just added another minute to your wait…heh, minion…silly little robot.'_

[If you don't help me, I'm gonna have to pull out the big guns…I'll hit you with the silent treatment.]

"Ha! That'll be the day."

"Clanker never shut up." Krieg almost sounded like he was making conversation with Maya. Progess.

[See how you like that…yep…being totally silent!]

Claptrap started humming to himself as Maya barely contained her laughter.

[Feel the sting of my passive aggression!...I'm not talking to you…not at all…..Silence, Tooootal silence!]

Maya was now giggling at Claptrap's grasp of irony. She gave Krieg the go to free Claptrap from his snowy bonds. Krieg started walking towards the abused robot. Then Maya's world flipped on its side. Maya was being pulled into the bullymong nest. She was just registering a large hand wrapped around her leg. She was dazed and couldn't find her voice. She saw Krieg sliding farther from her view. Maya's vision began to grow dark as she was pulled deeper into the poorly lit tunnels. Instinct finally took over and Maya screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Krieg! Heeeeelllp!" Maya was smashed across the face and the last light of the tunnel exit left her as she drifted off to unconsciousness.

**Sorry for not updating for a bit**

**I got a lot of papers and reports to write and my boyfriend broke up with me**

**So if I wasn't working I was drowning my sorrows in de gaimz. ****L**

**Anyway, enough about me. Did you guys/girls/ducks enjoy this chapter?**

**I mean, dat cliff hanger tho**

**Let me know with a review.**

**Stay Frosty,**

**B**


	10. One Step at a Time

Chapter 10: One Step at a Time

_'And here we are again. Damsel in distress needing rescue from my psychotic champion. Uugh.'_

Maya had woken up to find her mood bitter as ever. She was hanging upside down from the ceiling of this disgusting bullymong den. It smells like feces and vomit. Maybe that's because she is part covered in vomit…or mucus or…Maya didn't even want to think about it. Her lower half was held to the ceiling with a combination of icy snow and whatever this sticky stuff was. The frozen mucus trailed down Maya's back, binding her hands to her curvaceous rump. The icy mixture also had her stuck in an awkward position. The slime had frozen to arch her body in a, not entirely unpleasant, but rather…presenting way. Her chest stuck out and Maya could do nothing about it. Thankfully the padding of her jacket gave her some modesty.

_'Geeze this really is a damsel in distress set up. All that's missing is the vat of acid, lava, or radioactive goo beneath me.'_

Maya began to look around the best she could. She could see the ceiling and the space ahead of her. In the ceiling, there was evidence of other frozen goop set ups, but Maya was the only person here. The room was dark with no light sources. As Maya strained her eyes to dilate she saw the back wall of her prison. There's no visible entrance to the room, it was most likely behind her. And most ironic of all, the gun was on the floor beneath her.

_'Heh. I think I saw this in one of those really old movies the monks kept in their expansive library…Only the character in the movie had his arms free…and he had…what was it? Force powers? Yeah, something like that.'_

Maya tried to struggle her way out of her bonds. But it was no use. Maya's positioning was just too restrictive and she couldn't get a good tug or jostle in.

_'Great. What next? Call for help? No, that'll just attract bullymong…Why are they keeping me alive anyway? I mean, they're just animals. They're not going to be making ransom demands any time soon...Probably saving me for later.'_

Maya let out a groan of defeat as she came to terms with waiting for her crazy rescuer…if he actually heard her.

**Meanwhile…**

Krieg sprinted down the dark halls of this bullymong nest. As it turns out, those holes lead into a complicated network of tunnels. It's like an oversized ant hill. Filled with four armed furry ants of death by blunt force trauma. Krieg's heart had never stopped racing into maximum over drive since he heard Maya scream his name. He dashed through tunnels, cutting down any bullymong in his path. He was a man on a mission and nothing was going to stop him.

_'Turn right!' _And it was so.

_'Bullymong behind you!' _And Krieg reeled around to slice across a bullymong's cheek, dislocating the jaw and digging deep to cut the jugulars and esophagus. If the bullymong didn't instantly die it would bleed out while drowning soon enough.

_'Nice swing!' _Both sides of Krieg were working together like clockwork. Like a well-oiled death machine.

Yet he didn't know where he was going. Most tunnels forked off and Krieg was just going off of gut sense. More than once he took a wrong turn and found a dead end. With every empty room Krieg grew more anxious and enraged. He stomped with every step, he swung his axe all the harder, but he did not say a word. It was a silent, heartbroken rage.

_'We've come so far already. She can save us both. If it's the last thing we do, we will find her. Not just for me, but for you. For us. We WILL find her.'_

Krieg came back to one of the forks in the road from before and spun into the next tunnel. As he careened down this tunnel like a train, the smell started to kick. A strong stench of animal defecation wafted to Krieg's nose. One might think the stench would come with a lungful of methane gas. Good thing Krieg wears a mask with a respirator.

Krieg barreled into the chamber to find bones of humans everywhere and endless piles of some sort of white goop. What the hell was it? Mucus? Vomit? Bullymong semen? Krieg gave not a single damn about the excrement of bullymongs. He saw the frame of a large beastie shambling into the next room and went after it.

As Krieg turned the corner, he was met with a horrifying site. Not horrifying in the sense of visual disgust, but a tragic pull on the heart. Maya was hanging upside down from the ceiling. It may have been dark but Krieg could tell that cute hair anywhere. Even if it was ruffled and hanging from her frame. The bullymong was positioned beneath her, mouth open wide and ready to chomp down on her skull. All of the fear, the anger, and the anxiety came to climax within Krieg. He couldn't contain himself any long and the psycho was loose.

"MMAAAAAAAAAYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Krieg threw his axe into the beast and tackled the large animal to the ground. He pulled his axe out of its chest and began to literally destroy the bullymong.

Maya watched in awe. Krieg waylaid into the bullymong that threatened her life with such abandon. He straddled its stomach as he sawed away at its face and chest. Maya couldn't see past Krieg's muscular form, but she guessed there wasn't going to be much to see of that creature soon. Blood continued to spray out in torrents around Krieg. His body already looked like a tribute to the minstrel cycle, but more coatings were added to the canvas of his frame.

Krieg dropped his axe at one point and started yanking and pulling at anything. Intestines came out and were strewn across the floor. Scraps of skin were tossed to the walls. Then the arms came off, all four of them. He ripped off the two smaller secondary arms and shoved them into the bullymong's empty gut, making a twisted version of a bouquet. He then got up and planted a foot on what was left of the body and pulled on the large arms. They came off with ease and Krieg continued by using them like bats as he beat the lifeless corpse.

Krieg kept going and going. The grotesque carcass of the bullymong was reduced to a fine paste before Krieg was done. Maya couldn't bring herself to stop him. She could feel his distraught nature roiling off of him. He really needed to let…whatever he was feeling out. And on top of that, Maya wouldn't have been capable to do anything but stare anyway.

_'He said my name…Not 'pretty blue lady'. He said my name.'_

Maya didn't know exactly how to explain it, even to herself, but she knew. Krieg uttering her name with purpose was a completely sane thing to do. A psychopath like Krieg lacks the social intellect to use names so easily. It was difficult enough for him to even say his own name when they first met. And here he was, screaming her name and literally destroying anything that threatened her. Once again, she was surprised. No, astonished. She was astonished by Krieg.

Krieg finally calmed down and stepped back from his handy work, panting for breath. He was hunched over in his usual way. But his exhaustion and being covered in blood and guts just made him look like a badass. He turned to face Maya with his breath still heavy. Or he "faced" her as well as he could. Maya's face was awkwardly at crotch level. But he looked into her eyes just the same, not uttering a word. Maya tried to make it less awkward.

"My hero," she said with a smile.

_'Wait a minute that's still awkward. Fuck!' _Maya quickly came up with something else.

"Uuh, uuh…do you mind getting me down from the ceiling?"

Krieg obliged by walking around behind her. He gracefully placed a hand on the small of her back and swung at the icy formation above her feet with the other. Maya's bonds effortlessly shattered and she fell backwards. But Krieg caught her. He had to step back and lean forward to avoid getting kicked in the face while still catching her. The two were left looking like a pair of dancers, taking the dip at the end of a tango…right before the couple kisses.

Maya shook her head free of the trance. They had been staring at each other again. Their faces were closer together than ever before. Maya just couldn't take it anymore, she was being swept up by a psycho and she needed to show affection and show it now. With one swift motion, Maya lifted Krieg's mask, closed her eyes and kissed his cheek. With her eyes still closed, she replaced Krieg's vanity and opened her eyes to him again. Just as suspected, he was frozen stiff.

_'What just happened? What…just happened? She…and then she…I…we…'_

Krieg's inner voice was completely baffled. Both sides of Krieg were in shock enough that Maya removed his mask. But never in a million years would anything have prepared them for that! Krieg was just about ready to curl up into the fetal position and reconsider the meaning of life. Neither side of Krieg was used to the swarm of butterflies in their stomach, or the lead weight in their feet, or the soothing bolt of electricity up their spine, or the dryness in their mouth. And they continued to stare off into deep space.

"I…I-I didn't look…I-If you're worried that is." Krieg snapped back to reality to a flushing Maya. Her stunning, creamy cheeks held a cute hue of rose in her embarrassment.

_'I hope I didn't break him.' _Maya wondered as she stared back at him.

Krieg slowly brought Maya to her feet and backed away from their embrace.

"Th-th…th-th-th…th-th…" Krieg was at a loss for words. He was trying his damnedest to say 'thank you', but not even his crazy talk broke through.

Maya brought a hand up to his mask, where his mouth should be. Krieg quit his stuttering and waited for what his goddess would do.

"I understand Krieg…you're welcome. And thank y-*cough*"

Maya began to break out coughing. With her now standing up straight, Maya was breathing in the toxic air and it was catching up with her fast. Krieg put two and two together and shakily took off his mask. He pressed the oversized piece of equipment to her face, grabbed the gun, and he practically dragged her back to the surface. As they burst forth from the den, Krieg fell to his hands and knees and began to retch and cough uncontrollably. Maya held his shoulder as he expelled the poison, and his lunch, from his body.

After he finished, Krieg stared down at the soiled ground. He was without his mask and he had a decision to make. He either had to cover up until Maya gave him back his mask, or let her see. Let her see his one eyed face.

_'She deserves better. I say go for it. Let her see.' _Krieg began to turn his head but something stopped him.

"Uurgh…the meat is bad." Krieg's insane half had a nervous tick for this. Sure the sane half was just as uncomfortable with this, but the crazy half literally could not make their head turn to Maya.

Krieg physically strained his neck to turn. The muscles in his neck bulged out with effort. But it was just not going to happen. Krieg could not turn his head left to face Maya. Maya saw this strain and weakly smiled. There may have been disappointment behind her grin, but it was a smile of understanding just the same. At least she got to see his left profile. Krieg had a low, thick jaw line with shallow cheeks. He had a sunken eye and a large brow. His nose was not too large or small. All-in-all, Krieg looked like the icon of manliness.

Maya handed him his mask and he snatched it from her and slammed his face into its hollow comfort. A simultaneous wave of relief and shame crashed over him. Krieg was dependent, even addicted, to his mask; to his anonymity. And it is within these moments of weakness, when a man realizes his life is controlled by an object, that he can break, sane or not. Krieg trembled to hold back tears. With his greatest efforts, all that passes is a single sob. Maya just sits and waits with a reassuring hand on Krieg's shoulder.

_'One step at a time, Krieg. One step at a time.'_

**So I heard you guys liked character progress xD**

**Leave a review if you enjoyed**

**Stay Frosty,**

**B**


	11. Emotional Rescue

Chapter 11: Emotional Rescue

Gaige looked at the cliff side before her. It rose high above her and into a cold mist overhead. It was sloped in a jagged fashion. There was an almost stair like structure to it. Gaige sighed with relief at its presence, for she wasn't sure she'd be able to scale a flat surface. She started her way up the slope, hauling herself up from ledge to ledge. But as she got farther up, the ledges narrowed. Once she pierced the mist, Gaige had to press herself against the cold glacier to keep balanced.

"Well now what do I do?" Gaige clung to the wall for dear life. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea."

Gaige reached out above, feeling around for another ledge or some sort of hand hold. Gaige did not dare to look down. Besides, she knew it was too late to turn back now. Her fingers felt a sharp dip in the ice over her. Gaige grinned with achievement and moved her right hand around the area some more. There were five oval shaped holes close to each other.

_'It must have been Caine's cla-…fingers that did this.' _Gaige tried not to think about Caine's deadly hand as she shifted right along the edge. '_He deserves better.'_

Gaige pulled out her newly designated melee hammer and switched it to her human hand. Using the hammer as a grappling hook and digging her robotic fingers into the claw marks, Gaige began to climb the even cliff side. Every now and again, Gaige's mechanical fingers would get stuck in the ice, but she kept going, tugging out her tech appendage with every foot of advance. Finally, Gaige hurled her hammer forward to be met with a horizontal plane. Gaige pulled herself up onto the top of the ledge and gasped for breath.

"Whew…made it." Gaige pushed up onto her feet and looked at the area before her.

Ahead of her, Gaige could see the expansive plateau of ice. The wind bit at Gaige's unprotected legs, but at least the rest of her was warm. Through the snow carrying wind, Gaige could just make out the shape of the plateau. It was formed into a large crescent moon. Gaige was close to the bottom tip of the moon and the other end was about a half mile walk from here.

Gaige squinted to try to make out the far edge. There was some sort of structure on the distant tip of the crescent. Gaige couldn't be sure, but she thought she saw movement along that outlying shape. Maybe it's Caine. Gaige sighed.

"It looks like it's time for a long walk." Gaige began to trudge forth into the white. "I know I love long walks, but this is not what I'd have in mind."

Gaige walked and walked, the wind shoving against her back. As she walked, Gaige pondered what to say to Caine. Should she start with appraisal for the coat? How about a gentle approach and not say much of anything. Should she say she's sorry? What does she have to be sorry about? The more Gaige questioned herself and her motives, the more she realized she was going to be strictly winging it. But everyone's been winging it since they crashed here. So why break the chain? A rustling made Gaige look up.

Gaige hadn't even noticed she was here, at the northern tip of the crescent glacier. The structure she had eyed before turned out to be mostly a pile of junk. But the largest amongst the sort was an old Hyperion barge.

"Does Handsome Jack down his own craft here too?" Gaige wondered out loud as she proceeded forward.

There were plenty of very old burned out cars here. They're frames were blackened with char and trimmed with the red rust of time. To Gaige's left was the mass of the junk pile. It consisted of more burned vehicles and several pieces of rebar, which jutted out dangerously from the mountain of scrap. To climb it would be a fool's errand so Gaige turned her attention to the right. Here, there was a drop of from the plateau, down to an open area not far below. Bullymong nesting holes protruded from the cliff wall. Hopefully, they won't be coming out to attack her.

The sound of old metals scraping together came to Gaige. She smiled and turned her head to look to the barge once more.

"Caine I…" Gaige froze in place and clamped her mouth shut.

It was not Caine. It was the farthest thing from him. It was the bullymong, larger than life. This monster was five times, no, six times larger than an average adult bullymong. And adult bullymong are already twice the size of a human. Its body was covered in scars that tufted his hair awkwardly. The beast had streaks of yellow in its fur along his face and his mane was ridiculously large and unkempt. Where the hulking animal would have smaller secondary arms, this monster's arms were just as large as his primaries, making his oversized hands drag along the ground. It was the appropriately named Knuckledragger.

The beast stared back at Gaige, unflinching. Gaige's eyes were locked with the animal's in total fear. She was defenseless against such a large predator. But a blue light caught Gaige's eye. Claptrap's optical sensor was hanging around Knuckledragger's neck, taunting anyone to come get it. But as soon as Gaige's eyes shifted down to see it, Knuckledragger pounced. He jumped forth, arms raised to slam Gaige into the ground. By instinct alone, Gaige jumped back just in time.

The force of Knuckledragger's ground pound and her clumsy reflexes brought Gaige to the ground. She landed on her butt and Gaige immediately began to frantically scoot back. Knuckledragger would hurl himself forward and slam down again and again, narrowly missing Gaige each time. Gaige flipped herself over and jumped into a run. But Knuckledragger was quick.

He swept his giant arms along the ground, catching Gaige's legs. Gaige was tossed like a toy down the cliff side. A bullymong pile broke her fall, but Gaige still lost her breath. Gaige struggled to a sitting position and tried her best to drag herself away. Gaige's chest screamed in agony as she pulled her body across the ground. This only made her breathing shallower and Gaige collapsed onto the ground. All Gaige could do was stare at Knuckledragger as he gave out a primal roar and grabbed one of the car carcasses. He lifted it above his head and threw. Gaige saw the sun blot out as the vehicle that will be her death darkened the sky. Gaige sucked in her last ragged breath squeezed her eyes closed as her demise came sailing toward her.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHOOOH!" A scream of pain rang straight into Gaige's ear over the sound of the car crashing around her.

Something did land on top of her and pressed her down into the snow without relent. But it was not the cold, jagged steel of the car. It was something warm, surprisingly warm. And as the wind was knocked out of Gaige again, the warmth grew stronger, spreading out over her body like soothing hot water pouring over her skin. Is this what death feels like?

But Gaige's attention was rung with more gasps of pain and the feeling of movement on top of her. Gaige came to and opened her eyes. Her vision was smothered by wet red cloth, plastered to the muscular body of a man. It was Caine. Caine had jumped in between the vehicle and Gaige, taking most of the blow. His cloak and shirt were red with blood and Gaige looked up to see why. A bar was forced through his right shoulder, plunging into the ground mere inches from Gaige's head.

Caine's face was still hidden by hood and scarf but you wouldn't need to see his face to know how much pain he was in. Yet he pushed on the ground with all his might. The spike drove deeper through his shoulder but Caine pressed on. He almost lifted the entire car off the ground on top of his back. Gaige could only stare in wonder. But Caine's feat of strength was cut short as Knuckledragger lifted the car off of them. The bar broke off inside Caine's shoulder and Knuckledragger lifted the car again to smash it down again.

Thinking fast, Caine hurled himself backwards. The extra bit of rebar that spiked out from his back plunged into the beast's groin. A satisfactorily high pitched squeal escaped Knuckledragger's maw as he dropped the car on his head. The monstrous bullymong fell backward, taking the car with him. Caine was left straddling Gaige's waist with a four foot long hunk of metal in him, half screaming-half breathing loudly.

But the reprieve was short lived. Caine got to his feet and faced the beast. With a menacing calm, Caine stood between Gaige and Knuckledragger as the bullymong struggled back up. The animal looked to Caine and hesitated in its charge. The silence was broken by Caine's raspy voice.

"Caine…will enjoy…eating you." With that, he grabbed the spike in his shoulder and pulled it forward with little pain or effort.

Caine threw back his cloak to expose his claws and his left arm, now wielding the bar as a weapon. With a battle cry Caine jumped forward and swung his monster hand at the beast. Knuckledragger parried with a punch, but Caine followed up by plunging the bar into his right shoulder. Appropriate. Knuckledragger recoiled in pain and Caine took this as opportunity to retrieve the spike. He pressed his legs onto the bullymongs gut and jumped off, pulling the rebar free and giving Knuckledragger some deep gashes with his claws in the process.

Knuckledragger's defense was down again and as soon as Caine landed his jump, he hurled the bar straight back into the beast's stomach. Knuckledragger, now with enough wounds to stain his front side red, turned tail and leaped to the top of the cliff.

"COOOOOWWAAAAAAAARRD! FACE DEATH NOW! CAINE SOOOO HUUUUNGRRRY!" As Caine screeched and began to give chase, smaller bullymong jumped from their dens to protect their alpha.

Caine gave no notice to them as he began to jump to the cliff wall. A bullymong slammed its fists across Caine's face and sent him flying back into the snow. Thankfully, the bullymongs did not come after Gaige. But they did begin to encircle Caine. They closed in with a half circle between Caine and the cliff face. Caine was face down in the snow, his goggles and scarf knocked off from the hit.

As the bullymongs closed in, Caine struggled to his feet, a growl rising in his throat. Caine lifted his head to face them and the animals stopped in surprise. Caine's maw opened obscenely wide, even wider on the right side. Caine let out an inhuman roar, bloody saliva spraying out onto the nearest bullymong. That bullymong literally lost control of its bladder as it and all the others turned tail and ran back into their holes.

Knuckledragger's eyes displayed his fear but he jumped down to face his foe once more. A toothy grin spread across Caine's grotesque face. He roared again, a primal call that belonged not to an animal, nor a savage, but a monster. All insane banter was abandoned as Caine actually crouched to all fours and charged at Knuckledragger. Knuckledragger took a swing at Caine, but he only dug his claws into the beast's hand and threw him onto the ground.

In another second, Caine was on top of Knuckledragger's back, tearing away at his flesh. Caine bit down on the bullymong's second left shoulder, ripping out a steak sized chunk with his jagged teeth. Knuckledragger howled in pain and reached back at Caine. But Caine was now the itch that cannot be scratched and dove into the shoulder again and again. Knuckledragger tried rolling onto his back, but Caine leaped off, pulling on the abused shoulder as he went. With little flesh left, the shoulder freely dislocated and the arm was ripped from Knuckledragger's body. Caine dropped the arm as Knuckledragger crawled away from him.

"**YOU! ARE! FOOD!**" Caine sounded like a demon and he looked like one with his face covered in blood and meat hanging from his teeth. "Caine play with food."

Caine lunged for a final attack. He grabbed onto the still present metal in Knuckledragger's gut. He delivered an electric pulse through the conductor right into the beast's vital organs. Knuckledragger seized up and let out a pitiful wale of agony before slumping down into a lifeless mass.

"NOT YET! NOT YET!"

Caine drove his claws into the bullymong's chest and shocked its heart. Knuckledragger was brought back, only to have Caine rip his claws from his chest and use the metal bar to electrocute him again. After the life left the beast a second time, Caine laughed with his cruel intentions.

"Again. Again!"

And the process was started anew. Reviving him and electrocuting him. Again and again he tortured the creature to death and back. Occasionally, Caine left Knuckledragger alive long enough for him to feast on the living flesh. The howls and whimpers came as a sound never heard from a bullymong before. This was inhumane, it was disgusting, it was horrifying. Gaige watched it all. She had to roll over and vomit in repulsion.

_'Oh my god. Was Maya right? Look at what he's doing. He's not human…' _Gaige ran the words through her head in fear.

She was truly afraid of Caine now. He was farther gone in his insanity than she had ever seen. But still a small voice within her reminded her of everything that she had said before. She couldn't turn back on him now. In fact, now would be the time Caine needed someone the most. Someone to guide him back to humanity. A beacon in the darkness of his own mind.

It took all of her will power, but Gaige struggled to her feet. She then nervously shuffled closer to Caine. Knuckledragger was no more; his body could not be revived again. Now Caine was content with mauling the corpse. Gaige came up to him and grabbed his mutant arm. She hugged the arm to her as if her life depended on it. And considering how far gone Caine was, that just might be the case.

Caine struggled but Gaige held on with all her strength. Caine turned to strike her with his smaller arm. Gaige cringed and clamped her eyes shut, clutching to the freakish arm all the more. Caine stopped. His eyes fell upon her pale face and recognized her. He registered the fear on it and his hand lowered. His heart began to slow. The red haze of his insanity began to fade away.

_'I…do I really have an effect on him…?' _Gaige began to calm down and she dared to open her eyes.

Gaige looked up to Caine's face. His expression was beginning to soften as he looked upon her longer. As their eyes met, the spark of intelligence came back to Caine's human pupil. Caine pulled his gaze away from Gaige to view the bloody, torn body. He looked back to Gaige in question, but she could only provide him an equally questioning stare.

"D-Do you…not remember?" Gaige continued to clutch onto Caine's arm as she questioned him.

Caine looked back to the bullymong corpse for further examination. Caine noticed the tell-tale signs of bite marks and his good pupil dilated in realization. He whipped his arm out from Gaige's grasped and rushed a few feet away. He quickly shoved his fingers past his lips the poke at his uvula. His gag reflex came and Caine began to puke out the unwelcomed meat in his stomach.

As Caine emptied his stomach further he began to openly cry. He did nothing to hide his tears, for his shame was obvious enough with his task at hand. Sobs broke out between coughs and retches. Tears began to wash away the crimson stain of his sins. Caine fell over into a pitiful heap in his own bloody vomit. Gaige couldn't help but let loose tears of her own at the pathetic sight.

Gaige walked over and hugged Caine from behind. She brought her chin to rest on his shoulder and she squeezed him with affection. Surprisingly, Caine turned into the hug and gladly accepted her. He held on to her for dear life and Gaige could only stare ahead in shock.

"I'm sorry…I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry…" Caine continued on like this. This was the first time in years that anyone has ever held him. Let alone give more than two shits about him. And he reduced to a puddle of tears soon enough.

A little while later, Maya and Krieg came over the hill. Maya jumped at the strange sight. The mighty beast brought low. Caine bawling like a man-baby. Gaige holding him like said baby. The snow stained red with all the blood. It was a sight to see. Gaige beckoned Maya over to her. Maya approached to hear Caine's pitiful string of apologies and she looked to Gaige for an answer. Gaige sent the silent message through her eyes and Maya slowly ran the situation through her mind. She concluded to reach out and place a hand on Caine's back, forgiving him and comforting him at the same time.

[Oh! My eye just switched back on! Did you guys already kill Knuckledragger? Best minions EVAAR!] Claptrap's now very annoying voice pierced the peaceful air about the Vault hunters.

Maya and Gaige shot death glares over to the inconsiderate bot. The stares, of course, did nothing to the blind mech, but the psycho next to him got the picture. Krieg grabbed Claptrap and flipped him upside down.

"STOP SCREAMING!" Krieg stuffed Claptrap's head in the snow and sat on top of him to make his point.

The ladies turned back to Caine and let him continue on his nervous breakdown. Everyone, even monsters, could use a little emotional rescue.

**Hey everyone! Did you like this chapter?**

**I loved writing it. Although I kept thinking the Caine's emotional breakdown was too much like Krieg's.**

**But I wouldn't have written it any other way. What do you guys/girls/amorphous blobs of the internet think?**

**And thanks WolfPrincess000 for the shout out in your story. It makes me warm and fuzzy on the inside.**

**If you don't know who that is, what's wrong with you son? Go read her story=fun plot twist central.**

**And read Ryzi's Borderlands stories too! It's full of feelz and fun!**

**They my fav authors so just view me profile to see the light.**

**And as always my friends:**

**Stay Frosty,**

**Luv B**


	12. This Town

Chapter 12: This Town

[Hey kiddo, Jack here.] Maya scrambled to grab her ECHO communicator.

Was this seriously happening? Was the man that tried to kill them contacting them? Everyone was dumbfounded for the moment and said nothing.

[President of Hyperion?] Jack spoke with a suffocating air of ego that made Maya want to slap him across the face. [Lemme explain how things work here: Vault hunter shows up. Vault hunter looks for the new Vault. Vault hunter gets killed. By me.]

"Really?" Gaige began a witty rebuttal, but Jack just kept going.

[Seeing the problem here? You're still alive. So, if you could just do me a favor and off yourself, that'd be great. Thanks pumpkin.]

"Excuse me?! Pumpkin?!" Maya could take his ego and his threats, but she would not be called "pumpkin" by this prick. But before she could whip out her feminism, Caine grabbed the ECHO device.

"Listen here you fucking little cunt-bitch! We find you-"

[Yeah, I'm not listening anymore.] And the screen flashed black. He ended the call.

"You-YOU FUCKING-" Caine was throwing a fit and he was just about to crush the ECHO tablet in anger.

"Caine…" Gaige spoke calm, but strongly.

Caine stopped his ranting and looked over to Gaige. Their eyes met and Gaige crossed her arms. She gave a little quirk of an eyebrow in disapproval and Caine's muscles relaxed. He turned back to Maya and handed her the tablet with a silent apology. Ever since he finished letting his emotions pour forth like a waterfall, he's been mostly quiet and trying to get his pride back. They all knew this and allowed his manly seclusion from the group.

He didn't even accept help in cleaning himself up. He had washed himself off with clean snow and found an Insta-Health for Gaige. She most likely had a couple cracked ribs from the attack. For about five minutes the two argued about who should take it. Well, more like Gaige kept offering it to him and he wouldn't let her. It came down to her stabbing the needle into Caine's back. Caine had spun around and stared at her in anger.

"Why…You…I…GRRRRAAAAAH!" That's basically what came out of his mouth as he had tried to yell at her, but he couldn't.

He had resolved to stomp off and look for another Hypo. That's when the call had come in. Now Caine strode over to Gaige and shoved a new needle into her.

"Get better and LIKE IT!" Gaige simply responded with a coy smile, which sent Caine off grumbling to himself.

Maya and Gaige exchanged knowing glances as Caine trudged off to be alone again. Boys will be boys. Maya was just sitting and waiting as well. Krieg had practically shoved her to sit down. She hadn't taken a rest since the bullymong den. Maya begrudgingly accepted but she quickly came to enjoy her decision. The two ladies were just basking in the cold sun as their psychos either scavenged around or quietly brooded to regain his manliness.

"KILLING PADDLE!" Krieg came by with a revolver. It was much like Gaige's old discount Jacobs and she gladly accepted it.

"So now we have two rinky-dink pistols, a Siren, a big guy who is fluent in axe murder, and…well Caine." Maya gave a small giggle at Gaige's description of Caine's battle prowess. "What? What else could I say?" The two girls began to laugh with each other as Krieg sauntered over to the still half buried Claptrap.

_'Should we dig him up yet? We've had a good break and I'd say it's time to go.' _Krieg conversed with himself while looking over the wiggling and grumbling bot.

"When blue and red be ready as hotdogs." Crazy Krieg spoke of the two fair haired women that deserved rest. And, of course, Krieg's verbal thoughts were heard.

"Oh you can grab Claptrap, Krieg," Maya said with a smile. "We're ready to go when you are."

Krieg turned back to the bot and pulled him out.

[Many thanks friend of friends. Onward! Now we just need to get to Liarsburg so my pal Hammerlock can fix me up.]

"I'd fix you up," Caine said with a tone you could tell he wore a mischievous grin with under his scarf.

[Much as I'm sure you'd like to jam your fist into my skull, optic surgery is best left to professionals.] Claptrap continued on up the slope to the crashed barge without another word.

"You don't have skull. You're a robot." Caine trudged after Claptrap, followed by the others.

[Liarsburg is on the other side of this Hyperion barge. What say we cut through it chums…and Caine.]

"Why I outta…"

Gaige touched Caine's arm. She was really starting to get the hang of this. Caine's anger was like a dog on a leash, running away from him at the slightest triggers. But Gaige was the hand that gently pulled him back. Caine was pretty embarrassed by this relationship between them, but Gaige relished in it. She saw herself as a true friend to Caine. Maybe even more. Caine just needed time to realize this.

[Like I said; this door is Hyperion tech.] Claptrap approached the barge's security scanner. [Child's play. Aaaaaaand Opeen!] Claptrap threw up his arms in a great show as the door began to scan him.

Maya playfully pushed Krieg. This was a moment to be happy. They were finally going to get back to civilization. They were finally going to see another human being. They'd be able to restock, gear up, and-[Intruders Detected] The light flashed red on the scanner.

[Locking door] With that, six steel bars extended across the door. They locked together to form three impenetrable metal girders, locking them from their path. An awkward silence followed the barge's rejection.

[Well it was nice knowing you.] Claptrap said, spinning around to face the Vault hunters with misplaced cheer. [I hear getting eaten alive by bullymongs isn't such a bad way to go.]

"Well now I outa…" Gaige stepped forward in aggravation.

"Not if I get him first…" Caine placed his hand on Gaige's stomach and pushed his way ahead of her. Claptrap was starting to collapse in for the oncoming assault.

"MEAT!" Krieg stepped forth as well, axe ready to grind.

[Let me get that for you!] The woman from before interjected over the ECHO devise, stopping everyone in their tracks. [Executing phase shift] The locks immediately removed themselves and the door opened.

"What…the hell was that?" Caine seemed a little more shaken than he should be for such a happenstance. "I saw that woman in my eye." He gestured to his right eye, the mutated one.

[Sorry. That's a down side to my perks of being an artificial intelligence. I'm networked into almost everything on this planet. I guess the tech within you can pick up my signals from Maya's ECHO device.]

"Great. Robot lady knows all about us and can poke into my head whenever see damn well please…" Caine lumbered on into the barge grumbling his tribulations.

[It's a long way to Sanctuary. Please take whatever you need for the journey ahead.]

"Hold on now," Maya persisted for conversation from their mystery woman, or computer, or something. "Tell us about Sanctuary. And who are you? I thought you were a human." The mystery A.I. sighed at this and paused for a moment.

[Sanctuary is the last bastion of the resistance against Handsome Jack and Hyperion. I know I may be pushing you into a fight you may not want, but I fear it will become your fight sooner than later. I fear that if I don't help you now, you'll die out here. And then there would be no one to stop Jack.]

"Aaw that's okay. We're all against Hyperion here," Gaige exclaimed, leaning onto Maya to peer down at the ECHO tablet. "In some form or another."

[As for me: I am an A.I. I have hacked my way into the ECHO net. Which networked me into nearly all ECHO connected tech on this planet. And I am solely here to help you. Think of me as your guardian angel.]

"How about extremely annoying girl that blocks half of my vision every time she fucking speaks," Caine growled so everyone could hear his complaining.

"I think Angel will be a shorter and better name," Maya said after shooting Caine a glare. Maya looked back down at the tablet, but the image was gone. "Guess she's done talking."

"I wanna see sun set colors." Krieg was eyeing a large weapons chest in the middle of the barge.

Fumbling with the controls, he found the open button. With a hiss, the seal broke and the chest was opened. Unfortunately there was only one weapon within. A shotgun, nothing fancy, but it was a Jacobs double barrel; guaranteed to pack a punch.

"Mmmh…A GOLDEN MALLET FOR THE MEAT POUNDIIIINNNaaah." Everyone couldn't help but smile at Krieg's excitement.

But Caine did feel a little left out. Everyone would have a gun but him. And Krieg is just as fine with only his axe. Why is Caine getting the short end of the stick?

"Hey could I get the shotgun?" Caine calmly asked Krieg.

"MY KILL STICK!" Krieg hugged the rifle to him like a child to a prized teddy bear.

"Why not? You have your axe."

"PURPLE MEAT CLAWS!"

"But I don't hit nearly as hard as you do."

"MINE!"

"Would you just-"

"Boys!" Maya cut Caine off. "If you're going to start arguing, neither of you are getting the gun." Maya extended her hand to Krieg expectantly.

With some hesitation, Krieg handed the gun over to Caine. He then sheepishly looked to Maya for her say. Maya gave a small nod of approval. Krieg brightened up at this and swaggered off to the opposite door at the end of the barge. Caine was silent, but he gave nods of thanks around the room. He avoided looking at Gaige; he didn't want to feel any more embarrassed. And he would have. Gaige wore a silly grin for the just as silly behavior, even if it was mostly Krieg's doing.

[This way to the Southern Shelf minions! Let's go…or…not.] Maya and Gaige were still searching through all the crates as Claptrap approached the opposite barge door. [We'll go at your pace. I'm obviously the brains of this operation, of course, but you're the Vault hunters with the brawn…And the guns. And the power of sight! Which is exactly what you want out of a minion. That's three of the top four things one generally wants out of a minion.]

"Uuh excuse me?" Caine stared down Claptrap for the back-handed compliment.

[Oh you'll figure out the fourth when the time is right.] Now everyone glared at the silly bot. Claptrap couldn't see them and was unfazed. He leaned over and put one of his clamp hands next to his vocal speaker, as if to whisper. [The fourth is pizzazz!]

Now that got them. Everyone laughed in their own way and sauntered up to the door for Claptrap to open.

[Alright. Before we go, I have to warn you to keep your wits about you minions. This side of the glacier is run by a bandit called Captain Flynt. Hopefully his men haven't taken over the town again.] Claptrap worked the controls and opened up the door to the other side of the junk heap. [Flint kept me as his torture play thing for a few months. We played games like: Dodge the Blowtorch and Don't Get Dunked in the Pool of Acid. I was really good at the first one!]

As Claptrap yammered on and on the Vault hunters stepped forth into the new area. Instead of the usual snow and ice everywhere, there was visible stone not covered in snow. The temperature seemed a little higher, which would explain the less snow. They stood upon another cliff, looking out over Liarsburg and beyond. Liarsburg was a quaint looking town surrounded by a wall. But it seemed to be overrun by bandits at the moment.

"Are you sure Hammerlock is still there?" Maya questioned Claptrap as the bot stumbled down the cliff side.

[Oh yeah, he's definitely still there. If he wasn't, he'd be dead and Hammerlock's too smart for that.]

"I guess that's reassuring…" Gaige readied her revolver.

Maya did the same and Krieg spun his axe blade. Caine looked at the rest of the area ahead of them. The cliff side stretched to the left into a small mountain side. There was an out cropping that hanged over the closest house within Liarsburg. A hidden smile spread across Caine's face. As Maya and Krieg jumped down, Caine headed along the cliff edge to the left.

"Caine? Where are you going?" Gaige hesitated to follow the others as she watched Caine.

Caine's only response was to break out into a full sprint, heading toward the outcropping. Gaige smiled at Caine. It was time for something a little different. Gaige chased after Caine, following him into certain action. Maya spotted their departure but continued on her path with a roll of her eyes. Ahead of her was the gate to Liarsburg. And of course there were bullymongs strolling about the entrance.

"Time for a little pay back." Maya shot a monglet in the head and phaselocked a brat bullymong.

"GRAAAAHAHAHAAAAA!" Krieg jumped through the air with a spin.

Krieg's axe came across the locked bullymong's flesh, ending its life. With the bullymong's death, arcs of energy came rushing from the orb to Krieg. As Krieg landed his graceful spin of murder, he connected another hit with more force than usual. With the energy flowing through him, Krieg finished his deadly dance with an axe throw to the last bullymong. The axe stuck out from the animal's skull, perfectly centered on the brow.

"BLOODY UNICORN HAHAHA!"

At this time, Caine made it to the edge of the cliff. Without a looksee or hesitation, he jumped off and soared over the building beneath him. Gaige skidded to a halt and watched Caine fly into the town square. His cloak flew back with the wind and he had his arms spread wide with his knees bent for the landing. The image froze in Gaige's head for a moment as she imagined Caine as a video game character from one of the many Assassin's Creed or InFamous games.

_'I miss my video games.' _Gaige thought as she admired Caine's form.

But time kick started again and Caine plummeted to the ground. A bandit looked up just in time to be crushed under Caine's feet. The multiple cracks of bones could be heard throughout the town and Gaige shivered in repulsion. As Caine ducked to cover, Gaige made her own entry. It wasn't as badass since she landed on the house's roof and dodge rolled off with the momentum. Well, actually that is pretty badass. Gaige ended her roll on a knee and let off some shots to a nearby bandit.

"How was that, eh?" She said with pride as she joined Caine behind cover.

"Seven out of ten." Caine said as he checked to make sure his shotgun was loaded.

"Seven? Really?"

"Well, I mean…you didn't kill the guy." With that, Caine spun around and poke over their little half wall and fired slugs into the bandit's gut. "Like that."

"Well we all can't have guaranteed to hit at close range shotguns now can we?" Gaige's rebuttal was more playful than sarcastic as she gave Caine a smile.

Now, a bandit rushed out of the building Caine and Gaige had jumped over. But he didn't get to do much of anything as Maya phaselocked him. Krieg went sprinting past all of them and slashed at the bandits with reckless abandon. He cut off a head here and a limb there. He even spilled some guts, as that is his favorite past time. Maya finished off the capture bandit and charged into the first building guns blazing.

Inside, the monks' training kicked in as Maya expertly checked and cleared rooms. No bandit got the drop on her. In the first, a bandit tried hiding behind the front door. But Maya spun around and showed off her impressive aim right between his eyes. She proceeded to what looked like the kitchen, but with all the…psychotic bandit like things, it was hard to tell. Another foe came at her with a frying pan. He didn't last long. Finally, Maya busted into the restroom, interrupting a bandit's alone time. He scrambled for his other gun, but Maya drew first.

Back outside, the bullymongs decided to join the party. Gaige literally ran circles around one while peppering it with her pistol. She ended her attack by gouging the tooth end of her hammer into its eye and pulling it to the ground. Caine blasted several heads apart in fun showers of red. When he ran out of shells, Caine resorted to using a monglet as a mace for the unlucky bandits. It was obvious the four of them had the upper hand, but none of the bandits gave up. None of them ran or tried smarter fighting tactics. Apparently Captain Flynt's men are not the brightest of the bunch.

"THE MEAT PUPPIES! THEY COME TO THE SLAUGHTER! LIKE CHILDREN TO AN ICE CREAM TRUCK!" Krieg was certainly enjoying himself as he dismembered yet another push over villain.

"They want to DIE! Filth of society. COMING FOR CAINE TO CLEANSE!" Krieg and Caine were a duo of artistic killing.

They danced together through the fog death and rain of blood. They were a Cirque Du Soleil of destruction and Gaige had front row seats to the show. Maya joined her as the last bandits put up their fights. On the last guy, Caine and Krieg were in perfect unison. The bandit's head came off with Krieg's axe. The axe hit the jaw to send the skull flying through the air like a ball. Caine expertly shot it out of the sky with the shotgun.

"Pull." Caine rested the rifle on his shoulder and chuckled to himself as he admired their artwork.

Everyone took a moment to catch their breath. Krieg started to pace from his excitement. He wanted to kill some more. Maya responded by walking over to an ammo vending machine. She made sure to pass in front of Krieg to catch his eye, calming him down with her presence.

"Huh the machines are dead," Maya stated.

"No surprise there. Everything else is dead here," Caine gestured to the absolute carnage they surrounded themselves with. "This town be craaaazy!"

"Seriously, how would this Hammerlock guy still be here?" Gaige took a load off on a random cinder block.

[Don't worry minions! Your master has all the answers! Right Hammerlock?!]

[Ugh, spectacular. First Flynt's bandits attacked and now Claptrap showed up.] A rather suave and simply gentleman like voice crackled on to Maya's ECHO device.

Maya pulled out the tablet to see the ECHO cast tag to read Sir Hammerlock. The voice grumbled something about puppies and life before Claptrap interrupted him.

[Yeah, yeah Hammerlock. So since my minions just saved the town, do you want to do your bestie Claptrap a favor and repair my eye?]

[Well…I suppose I'm in your debt now aren't I? Come to my shack and I will repair your sight.]

Claptrap started heading to the south end of the village. No one had noticed the house on a hill amongst the insanity of battle. It was a small, probably three bedrooms, building with a large chimney. It had a large yard, which was separated from the rest of town with a tall wall and a clearly electrified fence. Claptrap, without his sight, was heading straight for the shocking metal gate.

[I knew Hammerlock would come around. Me and him are like two peas in a pod! Or two bullets in a mag! Two CANNIBAL MIDGETS IN A FAT GUYS RIB CAGE-geleleleleleleleeeee]

Claptrap rolled right into the fence and short circuited to a silent shutdown. Everyone suppressed laughter or snide remarks…except for Caine.

"I'm really liking this town."

**Sup readers! Hope you're doing well.**

**I'm on break from school for a week so I'll hopefully be making daily updates.**

**Or I'll just waste all my time gaming xD**

**But is that really time wasted? :P**

**Anyway, drop a commento or something if you enjoyed**

**Stay Frosty,**

**B**


	13. For Queen, Country and Badassness

Chapter 13: For Queen, Country and Badassness

[Apologies. But when Claptrap speaks I feel my brain cells committing suicide one by one. I shall be out directly.]

The Vault hunters approached the electric fence and watched as the door to Hammerlock's abode opened up. Out of it marched out a rather eccentric man. He wore dapper khakis with shin high boots, perfectly fit for adventuring. Well, technically he only wore one boot. His right leg was of mechanical design and so was his arm. His pant leg and sleeve were rolled up above the working gears. The machinery was less graceful than Gaige's own robotic arm. They were cheaper and simpler, unlike Hammerlock's clothing.

Moving on to his top half, Hammerlock wore a beige button up underneath a hunter's leather vest. The material was sun bleached with many a year of travel. Hammerlock's skin was no different. He displayed quite tanned skin that almost looked hereditary at this point. His face bore a scar from his right ear to eye. As if he had just been attacked yesterday, Hammerlock kept wire frame glasses with the right lens shattered. This gave him the look of wearing a monocle, which went great with his ginormous handlebar mustache and Stinson cap. Over all Hammerlock looked like a hunter and a scholar.

_'What's with all the men I've met here having something wrong with their right side? Then I have my tattoos and Gaige has her robotic arm on our left sides…What's up with that? It's like we're characters within some sort poetic tale and the deformations or uniqueness of a person speaks to their character. Or there would be some sort of underlying meaning not yet revealed to us…Or it could just be complete chance, I don't know.'_

Hammerlock strutted forth and struck a pose before them. He kicked together his heels and stood up straight for his visitors. He even brought his hand to his brow in salute. His old English accent was no longer hindered by the ECHO tech and he greeted everyone.

"A pleasure to meet you Vault hunters. I am Sir Hammerlock." He flicked his arm forward, ending his salute. "At your service."

"Hmm…Hunter, scholar, and a gentleman. Pleased to meet you Sir." Gaige went along with the formalities and dipped into a slight curtsy to the man.

Caine snorted in contained laughter and Gaige lightly slapped his chest. Hammerlock smiled at such a warm returned welcome. He proceeded toward the gate controls as he gave a short background for himself.

"I came here to research the bullymong for my almanac. Everything was going so well until Captain Flynt trapped me on this glacier." Hammerlock deactivated the electric current to the gate and swung it open. "It's not every day people emerge from Handsome Jack's dump site and then easily defeat Flynt's bandits. Actually, it's unheard of."

"Well we're different." Maya stepped forward to speak for the group. "We're going after Jack. We're going to Sanctuary to join the resistance and we're going to end him."

Gaige and the two crazy men let out hollers of agreement.

"Well you are a different sort aren't you? I would be heading to Sanctuary myself. Now that the town is cleared up I'll be able to Fast Travel there. Thank you for that. But unfortunately for you, Fast Travel only works for places you've already been to. Which is why you're following our mutual…"friend" around. Yes?"

Maya nodded yes.

"Well, if you could hand me the robot's eye. We'll get you underway shortly." Hammerlock extended his robot arm with a warm smile.

"Of course." Gaige handed the optical sensor to Hammerlock with her own mechanical limb.

Hammerlock and Gaige shared a silent moment with a nod and Hammerlock proceeded with his task. He stepped to Claptrap and knelt down to the shorted out bot. He fiddled with the exposed wires and ran them together. He mumbled to himself here and there as he worked. He then popped the eye back in and rotated it into place. As for restarting the droid, Hammerlock simply banged on the robot's side. The eye flickered with light and Claptrap made a couple start-up beeps.

"That should do it," Hammerlock exclaimed as he stepped to his feet.

[HaHa! I am Alive!] Claptrap sprang up to his wheel and squealed louder than usual.

Hammerlock realized what he had just done and brought his fingers to the bridge of his nose.

"Oh dear, he's talking again."

[Minions! Now I've got my eyesight back! And you're far uglier than I remember.] Claptrap continued yammering as everyone begrudgingly shrugged off that last insult. [Time to join up with the Crimson Raiders in Sanctuary! This glacier is full of nothing but man-eating animals, murderers, or jerkbags; like that Hammerlock dude.]

"I'm standing right here…dude." Hammerlock had practically shuttered from Claptrap's perverse use of the English language. "Now that Liarsberg I'll be able to turn on the main power. This town's full of things useful to go-getting slayers of men like yourselves." Hammerlock jogged over to the main power generator to bring the town back to life. Maya and the gang followed after.

"That would be very helpful," Maya said as she followed Hammerlock. "Any chance you have extra ECHO communicators and digistruct packs around here?"

Hammerlock chuckled to himself and stopped in the bloody town square. He gestured to the area around him with open arms.

"Like I said this town is full of useful things. That includes the bandits you just slaughtered. I'm sure most of them have ECHO tech and digistructors."

"Oh…" Maya blushed from her short sightedness.

"On this planet, it's loot and shoot, madame." Hammerlock turned back to the generator and fiddled with the wiring and gears.

Caine quickly adapted to scavenging the mauled corpses for tech, guns and cash. Gaige followed, but with some great hesitation. Krieg sprinted from body to body, picking up anything that resembled something that may or may not be useful. He finished his route by dumping and arm full of pistols, knives, an SMG, an assault rifle, a couple ECHO tablets, a digistruct pack, a belt, and a man's arm at Maya's feet. Caine whispered something in Gaige's ear and she laughed as they both had silly gazes upon Krieg's puppy-dog display.

[Now, something I forgot to mention.] Maya groaned and turned to Claptrap to receive crushing news of some kind. [My ship is being held by Captain Flynt, sooo you're going to have to kill him for it.]

Krieg let out a demented laugh for his joy. Gaige reset everyone's new ECHO tech and calibrated the digistruct packs. Caine spun the chamber on his newly claimed revolver and handed Gaige a shotgun and SMG. Maya decided to take her pick from the guns Krieg brought her. After moving the arm out of the way by looping the belt around it, Maya inspected pistols. Most of them were junkers, worse than the Dahl she now possessed. She gave Krieg the AR. She took a knife and the SMG. After looking about the others, she nodded to herself.

"Alright. I guess we're ready as we'll ever be." Maya smiled and so did Hammerlock.

"I have a few more things to do around here, so I'll be at your disposal until you reach Claptrap's ship." Hammerlock synced his ECHO communicator with everyone's so he could keep posted on their progress. "Before you go though, I'd humbly suggest visiting the old Crimson raider safe house. There you will find a shield vending machine. You will all need one to survive out here."

An air of bravado floated about them. The drums of war beat within their minds. Everyone was pumped up. This fight ahead was going to be their first real challenge here on Pandora. And truly, no one could contain a feeling of excitement. These four heroes-to-be had fighting in their blood, whether they liked it or not. But, of course, they loved it. They headed to the town gate and proceeded down the hill. But the joy buzz of testosterone/girl power was pierced by another message from Pandora's fearless leader.

[Attention people of Pandora. Handsome Jack here.] Jack's voice came from everyone's ECHO tech and probably from anyone else's in the surrounding are. [I'm offering a million bucks for each of the bandits that just arrived in Liarsberg. Oh, and I'm still offering a reward for Roland, the mass-murdering leader of the Crimson Raiders. Good hunting bandits.]

A dead silence chilled everyone's bones. Then another voice broke out. The man's speech dripped with endless anger and stupidity. A deadly combination.

[A million bucks?! Each?! Alright boys this is Captain Flynt! I want you to find those Vault hunters and bring them to me NOOOOW!]

Almost instantly, doors to shanty towns from both the east and west of Liarsberg's gate swung open. And from the houses poured ridiculous amounts of bandits and psychos. They rushed across the frozen shore from the west, looking like a title wave of death. The others scurried up the hill towards them, like ants to a picnic feast.

[Quick! Run to the safe house! It's in front of you!]

Maya looked up to see the shambled tower ahead of them. She then looked to Krieg, who was getting ready to slaughter in the name of battle. She grabbed him by the arm and started a mad dash for the tower. Gaige was in a daze, completely shocked at how many people were coming to kill her, or worse. Caine had to almost pick her off the ground as he chased after Maya and Krieg. The air filled with the droning roar of the horde. They were closing in. And fast. Everyone started shooting down the closest goons as they ran. Bullets whizzed by them constantly. Luckily, none of the bandits had accurate weapons, or aim.

As they reached the tower, the mob was on top of them. Krieg stopped at the one ramp up and effortlessly sliced away at anyone who came near. Caine easily flipped a boat out of the ice and made a barricade that covered Krieg's flank. Maya stood up on the second floor, unloading her rifle into the crowd. Gaige went the elevator's controls.

"The power box needs a new fuse!" Gaige called out, quite distressed as she poked her head out of cover.

Just then a psycho hurled his axe to her face. But Caine caught it and threw it back, successfully lodging it in the psycho's head.

"Watch yourself!" Caine turned to Gaige to scold her. But he became a hypocrite as a bandit landed some bullets in his back. "Hnngh! Goddammit!"

Maya phaselocked a bandit and crushed him in her grasp. She directed the healing energy to Caine and the bullets squeezed out of his back. Caine turned to the crowd and dived into it screaming a thank you of sorts.

"Thanks and farewell disgusting fishies!"

He landed in the middle of the horde and made short work of everyone around him. Krieg was now making progress into the crowd, forcing the bandits behind him to be distracted. Maya and Gaige kept the attention of the bandits ahead of him and Maya kept healing both of our friendly neighborhood psychopaths the best she could. Krieg and Caine met in the middle.

"ICY DEATH TIME! THE BLOCK BARGE IS COMING!"

Caine understood Krieg's particular dialect of crazy and began to claw at the ice. Krieg cut away at it with his buzz axe. Soon the two were lifting a huge block of ice out of the ground. Now the mob was focusing on them and the two men hefted the weight as bullets continually entered and exited their skin. A dance of damage and healing coursed through them as Maya truly began to strain herself in her efforts. But thankfully, the usual bandits on Pandora are complete idiots and practically stood in single file line for the crazy duo. With one last feat of strength, they threw the ice block at the crowd. It flew right through the horde, crushing most of them. Those left, ran off in fear.

[Dammit!] Flynt broke out over the gang's tablets again. [This ain't over grinder!]

"OH! MY! GOOOOOD! That was AWESOME!" Gaige spuee'd like a schoolgirl fawning over the latest boy band.

"…yeah…cool…" Caine dropped to his knees, still bleeding. Krieg was able stumble back up the ramp before collapsing himself. Maya quickly took charge of the situation before Gaige could freak out.

"Gaige! Take care of the guys while I'm gone. Hammerlock! Where can I find the nearest fuse?"

[In the western shanty town, I believe.]

Maya turned and sprinted to the larger village on the western shore. The houses were left unlocked and wide open from the bandits that just attacked. Maya quickly scoured through them but found nothing. Soon she turned her attention to an electric fence. It was literally three posts in the ground with electric bolts flowing through them. There was a power box on the other side, powering it.

[Ooou there's a fuse on the other side of the fence.] Claptrap chimed in. [Just run through the fence! You won't get shocked if you go fast enough!]

"I'm not stupid Claptrap," Maya said as she raised her pistol on fire on the control switch.

The fence was shut down and Maya grabbed the fuse. She made her way back to the safe house to meet up with the others. Gaige had found a few Insta-Healths and Caine was good enough to walk. Krieg's healing took care of him. Gaige was chatting up Caine about their badassness and Caine groggily went along with it.

"And then you were…BOOOOOM!" Gaige reenacted the now legendary throw. "And the bandits were all like 'Oooh oooh no!'" Gaige's excitement was pure, but it had a hint of being forced. Gaige was worried about Caine. Yammering was all she could do to keep herself centered.

"…yeah…yeah…" Caine was clearly worn out and needed another hypo to get him up to snuff.

_'She's getting quite attached to him isn't she?' _Maya worried about her friend. She still felt a twinge of distrust toward Caine. His insanity was complicated. It made him unpredictable. _'Can I really trust him with her life? Uugh. I'm being protective of her again aren't I?' _Maya shrugged it off and approached the group.

"Here Gaige. Plug it in."

Gaige eyed the fuse for but a second then snatched it from Maya. She punched it in to the power box and fiddled with some wiring. When the generator sputtered to life, she yanked the elevator call lever. She then literally tapped her foot with impatience as the elevator slowly descended. Maya touched her shoulder to grab her attention.

"He's going to be okay," she whispered to her.

Gaige slowly put on a smile and helped Caine onto the platform. The four ascended to the safe house and entered. The room was smaller than expected. There were some cots and lockers that encumbered the space. In between the cots was the vending machine they were searching for. Caine got his hypo and everyone got their shield.

"Okay. Now we're ready to kick some yeah?!" Gaige was enthusiastic again. But this time it was with vigor and anticipation.

"Yeah let's go kill this cock bite!" Caine sprang to his feet reenergized.

"THE TRAIN WON'T STOP!" Krieg was raring to go.

"Let's do this!" Maya joined in on the fun and kicked the door open.

[Actually, while you're out there could you collect some bullymong fur for me?] Hammerlock blue balled the blood lust. [I have money and a problem.]

Everyone stopped and considered the cash. Gaige sighed and broke the silence with the cold hard truth.

"The things we do for cash."

**And I'm back bitches xD**

**Yeah my break consisted of the games.**

**And going to the movies.**

**And spending time with da familia.**

**And shooting guns! I shot a gun for the first time ever.**

**My dad was all like "You're too accurate for a first time shooter!"**

**Maybe what they say about teens and games is partly true**

**Or maybe I be gifted**

**So yeah I took a break on my break.**

**I kept rewriting this chapter, I could never get the feel for it**

**I settled on just pushing the story forward and have a fight scene and stuff.**

**If you thought it sucked don't hesitate to destroy my self-esteem xD**

**This time at school it looks like I'm going to have a lot more paper work regularly**

***dying inside* :(**

**But I will always try to keep writing**

**I love yo faces and thank you for all dat sexy support**

**Stay Frosty my friends,**

**B**


	14. For Queen, Country and Badassness Part 2

Chapter 14: For Queen, Country and Badassness Part 2

"Like Gaige said, we need the cash, Maya." Caine brutally beat Maya with reason as our Vault hunters stepped off the elevator.

"Yeah, we need dat cash-moneys!" Gaige slathered her words in jolly sarcasm.

Maya couldn't help but smirk. When Gaige puts it that way, who could refuse?

"Alright. I saw some bullymongs back at the village I took the fuse from…" Maya began to turn the gears of battle in her head once more.

"FURRY CREATURES!" Krieg sprinted in the exact opposite direction of the other village. He sprinted across the frozen lake toward some bullymong on the opposite coast.

"Or…we could go there…" Maya and the others watched Krieg go once more into the fray.

"Well, we could split up," Caine suggested. "I'll go over to the fuse-village and worry about the hide. You guys go check out that frozen-in ship." He pointed to a vessel awkwardly jutting out of the ice in Krieg's direction.

"I'll go with you, Caine." Gaige immediately stepped up.

Maya noticed Gaige's enthusiasm once again. What is with this girl? Does she really have such a bad crush on the monster that is Caine? Or does she have some sort of self-righteous mission to heal Caine's obvious mental scars? Can he be even helped? As questions such as these rolled around in Maya's head, one thought kept coming up again and again. Maya was worried for Gaige's safety.

"Actually…" Maya chose her words carefully, "How's about Caine and I go to the shanty town? Then you catch up with Krieg."

Gaige stared at Maya for a moment, attempting to read Maya's thoughts. Maya steeled herself and pushed her thoughts from her mind. Gaige's brow started to furrow in thought and underlying anger. She knew Maya didn't trust Caine. What was she playing at?

"…Okay…fine…It'll be good for you two. Get to know each other better." Gaige shot Maya a look that said 'give him a chance'.

"I don't care what you two are going on about. I'm going to get a hide. You two can sit here and talk about your feelings and watch Krieg prance through lollipop-murder land." Caine walked off with a huff.

He may be socially challenged, but Caine is far from stupid. He knew exactly what was going on between those two. And he was insulted by being the subject of a demeaning conversation right before him. Gaige and Maya silently duked it out as Caine walked away.

"Seriously Maya? Why can't you see the best in him? It outweighs his faults."

"I'm not so sure, Gaige. He's dangerous."

"Dangerous?" Gaige's voice picked up volume. "You want to talk about dangerous, let's talk about Krieg. Once he sets off on a murder spree, he never stops unless you're there! And you want me to be alone with him? If you're going to be so concerned for my safety, since I'm cleeeaaarly a defenseless little girl, stop being such a biased bitch for Krieg."

"Wha…Where did that come from?"

"Oh no," Gaige's voice dripped with hurtful sarcasm, "She said a bad word! That's so unlike her. You don't know me that well. And I don't know you. You don't know anything about Caine. And I don't know much about Krieg…" Gaige stopped, her words ringing quite true for herself.

"…We…have some trust issues…" Maya stumbled over her words as just being out reasoned by a girl a decade younger than her. "Listen…I'll…talk with Caine. And I promise you, Krieg will not hurt you." Maya smiled as a rather shrewd thought crossed her mind. "He thinks almost like a puppy."

"A puppy with unquenchable lust for blood and gore." Gaige interrupted.

"…Yeah…But he has obviously attached himself to me. Just like a puppy to an owner, but I don't think of him like that!" Maya was quick to protect her stance. "But he won't attack you because he knows I…wouldn't…like it…" Maya was trying really hard to explain how a Krieg works without demeaning his humanity too bad.

There was an awkward silence as the two women looked at each other. Gaige cracked a small grin and suppressed a giggle. Maya started to smile in accordance with Gaige. Then Maya smiling made Gaige lose it and bust out laughing. Maya joined her and their anxiety melted away.

"Once we get a break from this crazy planet…" Maya paused to catch her breath. "I promise, we'll have a talk and really get to know each other…all four of us. Even if I have to put Krieg on a leash for it!" Maya burst out into a new bout of giggling, clutching her sides.

"We'll probably have to strap Caine to a chair!" Gaige wiped back her giddy tears and laughed even more.

The girls laughed some more, then split their paths.

**Meanwhile…**

Caine pulled the hide from the large bullymong with ease. Getting the practice in with Gaige's coat really came in handy. He had the hide off in just over a minute, the muscle memory from his old life kicking in.

_'I don't see why Maya thought this would be troublesome. It's easy money, really.'_

Caine moved to clean off the hide with some untainted snow, which was actually difficult to find, considering he was surrounded by the bloody corpses of bullymongs.

"Well you do quick work, don't you?" Caine reeled around to see Maya observing his murderous handy work.

"Yeah…so?" Caine turned back to cleaning the hide of blood.

Maya didn't bother answering him. She only watched him work as she selected her next phrase.

"Gaige seems quite fond of you."

Caine stopped scrubbing at that. He froze in place, deep in thought. He only just realized there had been a shift in his relations with Gaige. He wanted to stay away from her, to hide himself from any heart break he could have. But at the same time, he wanted to know Gaige. He wanted to learn everything about her. She was so interesting, so enticing…But how could she have any long term feelings for him? He was a creature. A hideous monster. How could anyone learn to love him?

_'Whoa, wait. Love? Since when was love on my mind?' _Caine pondered on this apparent emotion within him and he realized he liked Gaige…a lot. She was the only sane person that didn't shun him for what he was. That's why he was so scared of her breaking his heart. _'But if Maya, another girl, says Gaige is quite fond of me…'_

Maya was waiting for Caine to do something…anything. He had been frozen in place for the past few seconds, which felt like several awkward hours. She was about to say something when Caine spoke.

"Really?" Caine turned to Maya to speak more clearly. "Really?"

"Uum, yeah. I'd say it was pretty obvious." Maya spoke with a look of confusion. How did he…no, how do guys in general not notice these things?

Caine looked away from Maya and nervously crossed his arms. He was so unsure of this situation, of Gaige, of himself. On one hand, he was excited. Excited that some mutual feelings were held between them. But on the other hand he was afraid. He had literally no experience in the Feels department. And it has been so long since he's felt anything but anger or sadness. And, as always, he was so afraid of getting hurt; of being let down. In the end, he didn't know what to think.

But Maya knew exactly what she was thinking. When Caine crossed his arms, the clawed hand became painfully obvious once more. And at the sight, Maya couldn't help but remember that hand coming down on Gaige. That sense of protection for her friend peeked once again and Maya almost let her words fly without thinking.

"Hey…" Maya's voice started out strong and stern, but she cut herself off and reconsidered her words. Gaige wanted her to give Caine a chance any way. But Maya still felt a deep need to express her views on the situation. So, with a cooler head and choice words, Maya continued.

"Look…I'm not going to pretend I understand you or her. I'm not even pretending to fully understand anything on this planet. Except for the concept of shoot and loot, that is. But what I do understand is I consider Gaige to be my friend. And…I hope…that we can learn to trust each other…" Maya rocked on her heels to stave off the awkward silence that followed.

"…Thanks. Apology accepted. And I'm sorry for what happened back on the train…and at Claptrap's place…and the awkward scene with Knuckledragger's body…and anything else…" Caine did not dare to look up at Maya. This conversation was emotionally exhausting as is.

"I…forgive you…but I'm not done." Caine looked up at Maya now, sensing the impending change in conversation. "I want to like you. I want to trust you because Gaige does. But if you hurt her, if you lose control like before…" Maya eye's pierced Caine's very soul. He was so thankful to be wearing goggles right now. "I will incinerate your brain."

Caine had nothing to say. Maya was in the right. He's almost killed Gaige multiple times. Maya had every right to believe that it could happen again. But her words still stung. Caine shifted in place uncomfortably, feeling Maya's gaze upon him.

[I hope I'm not interrupting.] Hammerlock's voice broke the silence from their ECHO communicators. [But I couldn't help but notice that I wasn't clear in my directions. I wish for you to harvest the fur by ripping it from a dying bullymong's hide with your fisticuffs! Blatantly ridiculous requests hooooo!]

"Really?" Maya and Caine were in unison.

[I'll pay you double if you do.]

"Well call up Krieg and Gaige for that. All of our bullymong are dead," Caine said as he moved a more comfortable distance away from Maya.

**Meanwhile…**

Gaige ran up behind Krieg, who was devastating the local bullymong population. One, two, seven went down with ease. Krieg began to cackle with sadistic joy. Two more bullymongs came to the slaughter Krieg lunged to the biggest one, while the other began to circle behind him. Gaige decided to make her presence known by empting her clip into the flanking bullymong. It fell into a lifeless heap, revealing Krieg behind it. Krieg sauntered up to Gaige, his engorged muscles tense and his eye leering.

"Uuh, hey Krieg…it's Gaige." Gaige laughed nervously as she instinctive stepped back from Krieg.

_'Whoa there buddy. She's with us. You know Gaige, the sweet girl with the robot arm...she's friends with Maya.' _Krieg halted and listened to his sane half, the red haze lifting from his vision.

"G-G…Gooouge?" Krieg struggled to socialize with the Mechromancer, his words failing him once again.

_'Close enough.'_

"Um, no…it's Gaige. Use an 'A', not an 'O-U' sound." Gaige stepped closer to Krieg, feeling more comfortable in his presence now.

"Ga-G…Grr. OPERATIC DIVA OF FLESH AND STEEL!" Crazy Krieg quickly gave up on his English 101 lesson of the day.

Gaige followed his ramblings and understood Krieg was talking about her having a robotic arm. She smiled to Krieg for friendly affirmation. A silence fell between them and Gaige shifted from foot to foot. This was literally the first time she had been alone with Krieg. Up to this point, he had paid little attention to her. He was always on Maya's heels. As she thought about it, Gaige realized how little she knew about Krieg. She was taken aback at the fact she was just like Maya to Caine. She then decided to eat her own words and try to learn more about Krieg.

"So…you can understand everything that I say, right?"

"THE MEAT KNOWS!" Krieg vigorously nodded his head and screamed his special kind of "yes".

"Ok." Gaige brought her hand up to her face in thought. She would press her knuckles into her cheek and stroke where her ear met her jaw line. She would always do this when she was deep in thought. She was wondering what other questions she could ask Krieg.

"Uum…so. Can you not control what you say?" Gaige looked up from her brainstorming, her fist never leaving her cheek.

"MEAT!"

"I'm going to take that as a yes."

Gaige thought on, the wheels turning within her mind. She came to a simple conclusion. Caine and Krieg are similar. They both lose control when faced with glorious battle and are prone to violent outbursts. And with that loss of control, there basic speech becomes a jarbled mess. The only difference between Krieg and Caine is Caine has more control, while Krieg seems to be lost to the violence. That and Caine's unfortunate body.

_'Hmm…Does that mean, with time, Krieg could be brought back to sanity? Or could Caine slip into full on insanity like Krieg? Why do they both hate Hyperion so much? …No…those were only rumors that Hyperion experimented on people…right?'_

Gaige's train of thought was cut short by her ECHO tablet flashing on.

[What ho Vault hunters! I called to talk to you about the bullymong fur collection!] Hammerlock rang through the speakers in his songful English accent. [I must clarify the specifications of our arrangement. For double the pay, I would be most grateful for you to harvest the fur from a living bullymong's hide.]

"Uuh…why?" Gaige's face scrunched with confusion.

[Well…to be perfectly honest why not?]

Krieg let out an evil laugh at the prospect of flaying beasties alive.

"I'm curious Hammerlock," Gaige continued, "Why do you want this fur?"

[Remember my hat? It is the hat of a gentleman. And yet it's missing something. Some je ne sais quois! I believe a bit of bullymong fur will do the trick.] Gaige quirked a brow at this sudden…fabulousness from Hammerlock, but it's not her place to judge.

"Alright. I'm sure Krieg will be more than happy to do that."

[Exemplary! Now I'll be watching to let you know which beast I believe holds the greatest bounty, as it were.]

Gaige and Krieg headed closer to the half sunken ship, deeper into bullymong territory. They came across several specimens, as Hammerlock called them, but none seemed to make the cut.

[I'm looking for an older beastie. One that has had time for its coat to fully develop.]

"Well, we haven't seen any alphas around here," Gaige said as she reloaded her double barrel.

[I've actually wanted to ask, how do you handle the kick of a shotgun with such grace?] Hammerlock inquired.

"Well my dad taught me how to shoot guns among the many things he taught me."

[He sounds like an excellent man.]

Gaige began to tear up at the thought of her parents again, but chocked it back. Thankfully, the conversation was cut off by Krieg calling out in a vicious voice.

"HERE COMES THE BAD TIME!" Krieg pointed over to the ship.

Gaige looked left to see a big bullymong sitting within the wreckage. It wasn't as large as Knuckledragger was but it was still quite substantial. It looked like it had rib cages caught on its largest forearms. And its fur was thick and fluffy on its back. Overall, the animal looked…well like a badass. The creature took notice to them and stood up with a primal roar. Gaige cocked her shotgun, there's no way she was going to be the damsel in distress this time.

[That sample will do admirably! Go get it for me, if you'd please.] Hammerlock chimed in his approval.

"Yep." Was all the confirmation he got as both Gaige readied her shotgun and Krieg his auto rifle.

They immediately opened fire upon the beast, aiming for the limbs to slow it down. But the badass bullymong raised its huge arm in front of its body and charged at them. Gaige nimbly side stepped the monster, but Krieg just kept shooting. His shield busted and the bullymong trampled him, leaving Gaige with her mouth agape. She rushed over to Krieg, while staving off the creature with buck shot.

"Krieg! Are you okay?" She grabbed his shoulder and flipped him over. "C'mon, you can't tell me you're that easy to knock out."

Krieg's eye sprung open and he quickly sat up. He grabbed his buzz axe and lunged to his feet in an all-out sprint toward the animal. He was laughing, clearly enjoying the challenge of the kill.

"IIIII'M COMMIIIIIIIIINNNG!" He hollered as he ran to meet the bullymong half way.

"Don't forget about the fur!" Gaige called out to Krieg, hoping Krieg's happy-fun time wouldn't lose their chance at a bigger reward.

Thankfully, it didn't. Krieg jumped into the air, flipping and spinning over the bullymong with uncharacteristic grace. His blade met the flesh at the beast's shoulders and cut all the way down its side. The bullymong squealed in pain and fell on its face. Krieg landed his jump on one knee; his axe raised at his right side, dripping the red badge of battle.

_'Wow. Nice one. I didn't know we could do that.' _Krieg's inner self was flabbergasted by the finesse of his execution.

"I didn't know you could do that," Gaige called over to Krieg, just as dumbfounded as he was. She walked over to Krieg. "Who the hell were you before you went crazy?"

Krieg looked down at his axe, wondering the same question. Even crazy Krieg took a moment to let this sink in. But it was only for a moment. His pupil constricted again and he rushed over to the wailing animal to finish the job. He cleaved the back fur from the bullymong, and then slit its throat to end its life. He held up the fur, some of it still attached to skin.

"STRRROONGER! Hehehe."

[Wonderful! Now, if you could bring me the fur, I will pay you.] Hammerlock confirmed that he was pleased with their work.

[Ooou. Are you collecting more bullymong fur? I love that stuff!] Claptrap chimed in over their ECHO communicators. [Why don't you bring me the fur, instead of Hammerlock?!]

"Why would we do this?" It was Caine who spoke. He and Maya had caught up with them.

[If you do, I'll give you a badass shotgun I found in the hands of a dead Vault hunter! It's really fresh! You can still smell the sadness on it.]

"Once again, you can't smell Claptrap." Caine was not fazed by Claptrap's offer. "Hammerlock's offering cash."

[I also found a wad of cash in one of the houses. I could pay you too! Honestly, a gun and money is the more logical choice.]

"BOOMSTICK, BOOMSTICK, BOOMSTICK!" Krieg chanted his desire. Truthfully, it would only be fair if Krieg got a second gun. Everyone else had two.

[I overheard Claptrap making you an offer.] Hammerlock interjected. [I would normally just say don't give him the fur, for he would do something irredeemably stupid with it. Like make a Mohawk out of it or something. But let me sweeten the deal. Bring it to me and will also reward you with one of my finest sniper rifles.]

[Screw that noise!] Claptrap argued. [Bring me the fur! And I'll give you a shotgun!] And at that the call ended, leaving the Vault hunters to decide whether to get a shotgun or a sniper.

"Well Krieg would certainly be happy with the shotgun." Gaige suggested. "I mean does anyone hear even want a sniper?" Gaige looked over to Caine.

"Hey don't look at me. I hate long range." Caine passed the stare over to Maya.

"Well…I'm pretty good with snipers actually." Maya spoke out in thought.

"BOOOOMSTIIIICK!" Krieg put in his very loud two cents again.

"How's about we look at it from the guns' standpoint." Gaige continued with a serious tone. "Shotguns are more badass, so get the shotgun."

"That's not a very good argument." Maya, ever the realist.

"BOOMSTICK!"

As the three, well two plus Krieg screaming 'boomstick', began to banter, Caine grew impatient and headed over to the sunken ship. There he found a weapon's chest, filled with Maliwan fire pistols. But at the same time, another big bullymong came out of the wreckage and growled at Caine. It was a smaller female, most likely the late badass bullymong's mate. Nonetheless, Caine eyed the copious amounts of fluffy fur on the beast's back.

**Meanwhile…**

"Why are we even arguing about this? Let's just go get the shotgun." Maya sided with Gaige and Krieg.

Then a howl of pain rang out from the ship. It was of animal design, but the Vault hunters still turned their heads to the sound. A moment later Caine jumped out from the wreckage with a second set of fur. It was smaller, but the skin and some of the back muscle was still attached, leaving the sample to look like Caine tore it off the beast's spine by hand. He nonchalantly walked past the others toward Liarsburg.

"Or we could get both," he said as he left Maya and Gaige with their mouths agape. He turned and called back to the others once more. "Oh and I found these pistols. Here." And he tossed three their direction."

Maya caught two in the air and Gaige caught the other. Maya just looked over to Gaige with her awestruck look. Gaige simply shrugged her shoulders and began to walk back to Liarsburg. Maya shook her head then turned to offer a pistol to Krieg. He turned his nose up at it. Surely no small weapon such as a puny pistol could fulfill Krieg's bloodlust. Maya digistructed the pistols and followed after Gaige with Krieg in toe.

**Back in town…**

[Fur Mohawk baby! Woohoo!] Claptrap spun around with his new duds. [And as promised, here's the shotgun and money!]

Krieg snatched his new toy. It was a Torgue armament. Which means it fired explosive slugs. This gun was official Krieg's new best friend.

"And a trillion thanks Vault hunters! You've helped this silly old man look far more badass than he deserves!" It was true that Hammerlock held some extra flare with the tuft of hair sticking out of his hat.

"You're welcome Hammerlock," Maya said as she accepted the fine looking Jakobs sniper. "Now it's time for us to get going." Maya turned and began to walk away with everyone else.

"Actually." Maya stopped in her tracks and internally groaned as Hammerlock prepared to give them another ridiculous side quest in the name of badassdom. "Would you like to do battle with a midget riding piggy-back on a bullymong?"

**Hi-Hi! So yeah I made you guys wait a little while again.**

**My bad. My b-day was last Thursday.**

**And the partying may or may not have also included my friends throwing me a belated "get over your ex party" (I'm not going to say no to free shit xD I'm a bad person)**

**So the partying may or may not have extended from Thursday to Sunday.**

**So I may or may not have been tired on Monday.**

**So I may or may not have written you a chapter that took me two days to make up for neglecting you: my wonderful interweb peeps.**

**But like I always say, I update when I can.**

**Also I just realized today I have been spelling Jakobs wrong. xD**

**Anyway! Shout out your love/indifference/hate/orgasmic pleasure over this chapter in the comment thingys.**

**For cereal, I love your feedback, I love your faces, I love your butts, I love you guys!**

**Or gals or trannies or robots from the future**

**And have a beautiful day!**

**Stay Frosty,**

**B**


	15. For Queen, Country and Badassness Part 3

Chapter 15: For Queen, Country and Badassness Part 3

"Remind me why we're out here again," Maya groaned as she dropped her gun to her side once more.

The gang, once again, found themselves fighting bullymong. They trekked to this secluded bay. To the south was the bandit village. There, they would face this alleged Midge-Mong. But to the west, there laid a solitary island. A long peninsula led to a cliff just close enough to jump to it. There were ship carcasses poking out from the distant ice fields that stewed such intrigue within our ever-growing-greedier Vault hunters. But before the sweet taste of loot could be savored, droves of bullymong and rakk had to be struck down. Simply put, Maya was bored.

"Oh come on Maya," Gaige joyfully poked, "Tis the epic quest for loot!" Gaige pumped her pistol wielding fist into the air with her ever undying vigor.

"Yeah," Caine interjected, "I mean we already found that fancy blast proof shield for Krieg. Granted it was in a bullymong dung heap; but how bad could a little more adventure be?" Caine turned back his head to Maya as he spoke. She glowered at him with more than one meaning. So Caine put his head back down and kept his mouth shut.

"IT'S PERFECT! THE MEAT IS READY TO POUND!" Krieg voicing his appreciation kept Gaige from noticing the almost toxic tension between Maya and Caine.

"Either I'm getting used to Krieg, or he's starting to talk just a liiiiiitle teensy-weensy bit saner." Gaige held up her fingers with the universal "tiny bit" gesture.

"It's just you," Caine said, adopting his reclusive attitude once more. "We're here."

Before them stood the small gap between the mainland and the glacial island. Looking onto the lonely isle, there didn't seem to be any sort of bullymong activity. There were signs of their presence, but their numbers were unknown. Of course, this didn't stop Krieg from vaulting over, which brought the others in toe. The island had the look of a spiral, the entrance being the lowest point. Immediately to their right, were the unmistakable entrances to a bullymong den. Ahead of them, there was the rise in the spiral. It wound up and to the right. Maya could only guess there were even more bullymong den shafts above and behind them. In fact, the farther the group headed into the island, the more Maya felt they were being surrounded.

And she wasn't wrong, as the first bullymong jumped down behind her. Another three protruded from the right. Two more jumped down from cliff after them. And finally, a big adult bullymong stormed down the spiral, barreling toward them with vicious abandon. Maya began by phaselocking that monster, then spinning around while dropping to a knee. She proceeded to open fire on the bullymong behind the group.

"COME TO ME WRATH SPONGE!" And Krieg was off. He had a running start as he jumped into the air, as a bullymong lunged for him. Sailing above the beast's head, Krieg aimed his beloved shotgun down and delivered the explosive payload. As the creature's skull splattered into nothing more than paint for Krieg's canvass, the kick back on his powerful Torgue sent him further toward his goal.

Krieg quickly grabbed his buss axe from his belt and let gravity do most of the work as he split into Maya's captive bullymong. For a brief moment, the phaselock held the beast together. But as the bullymong's life faded, so did the purple orb. And the blood spewed forth like a demented geyser, ruining Krieg's coat…again.

"IT'S A RED SHOWER FOR A BIG FIST!" Abandoning tactics, Krieg dropped his shotgun and sprinted to the other bullymong with naught but his axe.

Meanwhile, Caine and Gaige were perfectly in sync with each other. They were a deadly duo of double barreled death. _Say that five times fast. _They covered each other and danced about the battlefield as even more bullymong jumped into the fray. Caine blew a hole in a beast's head to Gaige's left as she covered him from behind. He grabbed a big bullymong by the throat as she launched buck shot into the beastie's mid drift. Then Caine went to reload, finding no bullets in his digital inventory.

"I'm out!" Caine had turned his head to be heard by the others. This left him open for a sucker punching bullymong. Caine was sent stumbling back as his shield faltered.

Maya responded with a crushing phaselock to the bullymong responsible. As she did, Maya noticed a little extra power in her skill. As the bullymong was held, helpless in the air, everyone felt that blue energy flowing to them. The rush was nothing like when an enemy died within Maya's psychic grip, but everyone felt pumped up nonetheless. Gaige literally smacked down one bullymong and Krieg tore another's arm off. Maya kicked off of a charging bullymong's head and nimbly flipped through the air, releasing a hail of bullets onto the beasts below her. She landed next to Gaige and they formed up, making a circle of dead bullymong around them as an altar to their power.

Caine jumped back up and immediately tackled a big beastie to the ground. With his clawed hand, he ripped off the bullymong's bottom jaw. He then lunged to another on Krieg's flank, sinking his claws into the poor animal's eye sockets and pulling it to the ground. As Krieg finished with the beasts before him, he spun around and ended the blinded creature's wails of pain. He then threw his axe at Maya's next phaselocked victim.

As Krieg rushed over to retrieve his prized possession the ground shacked before him. He looked up to see two rather large badass bullymong ahead of him. Before he could lift his axe, Krieg was backhanded across the field. He soared through the air and straight into Maya, the force knocking her silly. Krieg was only mildly annoyed by this a quickly sprang to his feet and helped Maya back onto her's.

"YOU GET BACK ON YOUR MEAT HAUNCHES!" Krieg's bloodlust had deafened what little sense of gentlemancy he had. As soon as Maya was on her feet again, she gave Krieg an understanding nod.

_'Sweet. Close enough.' _Sane Krieg smiled to himself as his body turned back to the fight.

"Now stay put!" Maya threw up another phaselock and held the great beast within her grasp.

Krieg followed up with a hurricane of slashes to the creature, while Maya fired some flaming bullets into the badass' hide. The bullymong screeched in pain as it was helplessly set on fire and cut to ribbons at the same time. As the purple energy faded, the bullymong silently fell to the ground in a bloody mess. Crimson rivers flowed from the lifeless corpse.

"NOW GO TO SLEEP!" With the many deep cuts and pool of deep red, the animal resembled more of a red wine braised beef round than a bullymong.

But Caine and Gaige did not have the luxury of Siren super powers. They had to bob and weave around their badass bullymong to avoid a right slamming. But oh, how they seemed to dance with the beast. Gaige would deftly spin around the bullymong's fist. Caine dodge the blows with less grace, but he made up for it by constantly getting his claws into the creature. Bleeding everywhere, the monster began to slow in its assault. Gaige spun around one last attack and ended up shoulder to shoulder with Caine.

With a quick look at each other, both nodded and moved into position. Caine crouched down and cupped his hands. Gaige stepped into Caine's crutch and he vaulted her over the bullymong's head as it gave one final charge. Caine then ducked under the four swinging arms and plunged his claws into the beast's chest. He delivered a crippling shock and the bullymong roared up to the sky. Just in time for its mouth to receive the barrel of Gaige's shotgun. As the bullymong's jaw and throat exploded out with buck shot, Caine threw the beast to the side. Gaige had landed behind the bullymong and now the two were left looking at the other, ending their crimson Cirque du Shotgun with such fashionable flare.

After the jovial hoops, hollers, high-fives, and victorious chatter, everyone ascended to the top of the spiral to find a chest. Within it was a Jakobs single shot rifle and hand cannon.

"Dibs." Caine snatched up the hand cannon. No one stopped him, knowing how well he works with that class of pistol.

Maya took a glance at Gaige. She knew Krieg wouldn't like a single fire rifle. But would Gaige like a taste of high power and accuracy mixed into one delicious gun?

"Eh, accuracy's over-rated." Maya quirked a brow at Gaige. Even Caine turned back from inspecting his new toy to curiously stare at Gaige. "I've got this idea for a great modded spec I can apply to my guns. Since our guns are all digi-code; this means I can manipulate them."

Maya grabbed the rifle and test fired it. Deciding it was just right for her, Maya deselected her Dahl pistol from her quick inventory and replaced it with her new weapon. Gaige continued to spin her tech fancies as the team proceeded to the bay town. She chattered about making her guns more powerful, but with a downside of accuracy loss that she clearly doesn't care about.

"Sounds chaotic." Maya stated as the draw bridge lowered at the town's entrance.

"Yeah well Anarchy." Gaige practically skipped into battle with visions of technological awesomeness dancing in her head.

The first three psychos fell, their screams only a calling card to the oncoming storm. Bandits and marauders followed. Maya took up a rear guard, using her Jakobs AR and sniper to get back in the groove of accurate fire power. Krieg led the charge, hacking away at bandits with evil cackles and blasting the heads off of marauders. A midget came sprinting toward Krieg, holding his own miniature buzz axe.

"HIIIIIKE!" And Krieg punted the little guy across the dock.

"I got it! I got it!" Caine made a dash to catch the dwarf. He caught its leg and used the momentum to slam the tiny psycho across a bandit's face. The bandit reeled back and fell into the icy water, screaming in pain at the sudden change in temperature. Caine ended by throwing the midget into the ground. Its skull cracking open on the hard wood. "Touchdoooown HAHAHA!"

To the right, the dock extended out to a trail of boats stringed together with pieces of sheet metal. The area was clearly crawling with bandits, but there was no sign of this Midge-Mong. But still, adventure and loot called.

"Split up?" Gaige suggested.

"MORE MEAT FOR ME!" Krieg seemed to agree as he scaled the balcony to their left. Pained screams erupted from the balcony along with the sound of Krieg's revving buzz axe. "YOU SHOULDA RUUUuuUUN!" And Krieg came back into view as he Sparta-Kicked a bandit off the ledge.

Caine started his way along the ship yard without a word. He sprinted onward to the promised bloodshed. Gaige followed behind him with her shotgun ready. Maya took the low road, continuing further into the town. Ahead of her was the town square, decorated with iron maiden cages and a bloody gallows. Within the square there were a great many bandits taking cover for a firefight. Maya opened up the porta-potty to her left to use the door as cover. She endured the smell as she began to find heads in her red dot sight.

"IT'S A SKUUULLLLLLET SLICE!" Krieg made his presence know as he jumped down from the far end of the balcony. He landed amidst the bandits, slashing away as his humble greeting.

Maya covered him as Krieg does what Krieg does best.

**Meanwhile…**

"Careful!" Caine caught Gaige as she nearly slipped into the freezing water. "Don't be a dumb deadun!"

Caine let go of Gaige's arm and continued on his rampage. He blasted a bandit's guts out and grabbed another's head in his clawed grasp. He crushed the head like a melon and tossed the body aside. Gaige recovered and switched to her SMG. She let Caine do his thing as she popped some shots off on the bandits ahead of them. They were making their way to a large ship that looked unfit for travel, but good enough to float. Caine jumped onto the ship and continued the slaughter. By the time Gaige climbed aboard, the deck was already painted red.

"More! Caine needs more!" Caine was lost to the bloodlust, pacing back and forth in angst.

"Caine." Gaige approached from behind, reaching out a hand to Caine.

Caine spun around with his claws raised and Gaige flinched. The claws came close to her throat. But thankfully, Caine stopped. Gaige's cringed face broke through the blood haze. But he still had raised his hand against Gaige. Caine backed away, dropping his hand once more.

_'Maybe Maya's right. Maybe I am just too dangerous.' _Caine held his head low in shame.

"You stopped…that's what's important." Gaige walked past Caine as she climbed up to the top deck on the ship, where a trunk-chest waited to be opened.

**Meanwhile…**

Maya pulled back from her sniper scope. Her tensed trigger finger laid off the tempting handle. She had seen it all. Caine nearly slipped again. She almost pulled the trigger herself. But he stopped. Maya shook her head and looked back down the scope. Gaige was opening up a bandit trunk-chest. Caine stepped in the way, but Maya could tell they were excited for whatever laid inside.

Gaige turned and she saw the two acquired some new shotguns. Gaige's looked like it was a Bandit acid pump-shotgun. Caine's was also a Bandit shotgun, but his had a ridiculously large drum magazine. Gaige and Caine talked and laughed with each other as they started heading Maya's way. Gaige hopped down and jogged over to the pier. Maya watched Caine just a little bit longer.

_'He seems to have improved…like Krieg.' _Maya looked over to Krieg, who was fiddling with his axe. Maya smiled to herself. _'Alright Caine. I'm going to choose to trust you.' _

Gaige and Caine made their way over to Maya and Krieg. They had to step over the countless bodies Krieg had left over. They continued on to what looked like an open-air bar. There they easily dispatched a drunken bunch of bandits and midget shotgunners. Still there was no sign of Midge-Mong.

"How about up there?" Gaige pointed to what looked like a second bar above the open-air one.

"Close quarters…" Maya contemplated. "Krieg, break out your rifle. Gaige, your SMG. Who has grenades on them?" Caine held out his giant clawed hand to reveal his surplus of grenades. Krieg laughed at the thought of what is to come. "Alright. If Midge-Mong's in there, here's what we'll do. Krieg, you'll breach the door. Caine, you'll toss grenades into the bar. I'll phaselock Midge-Mong in place for the explosion. And we all let the lead out on him."

"Yes Ma'am!" Gaige struck up a salute and clicked her heels together.

"Got it," Caine remarked, twirling grenades within his grasp.

"THE MEAT IS WAITING!" Krieg was already at the door, trembling with excitement.

The door burst open and Midge-Mong came forth. The adult bullymong was clad head to fist in spiked armor. On top of the beast, sat a ripped midget. He was even small than most of the midgets around here, but he made up for it with ridiculous muscle definition. Krieg was immediately smacked off the balcony. Maya tried a phaselock, but the Midge-Mong moved fast. He jumped down and knocked down everyone else. After that he immediately jumped up to the roof tops. All the while, the Midge was whittling down everyone's shields with his two SMGs.

"Well," Maya struggled back up to her feet, "So much for the plan."

"THE TRAIN WON'T STOP!" Krieg was back up and unleashing a torrent of hot lead upon Midge-Mong.

Gaige and Caine joined the fight, unleashing a storm of buckshot. It was now obvious Caine's shotgun was full auto as the weapon droned on with its rhythmic fire. Gaige's shotgun spewed the corrosive shells, immediately making a dent in the beast's armor.

"That tickled a little!" Screamed the midget and he concentrated fire on Krieg. It was clear that one of his SMGs were electrical, for Krieg's shield quickly popped. And the other SMG must be fire because Krieg burst into flames.

Maya wanted to scream. But nothing came out of her mouth. Krieg let out a holler as he began to burn and all Maya could do was watch as Krieg kept screaming.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIII EMBRACE THE **FLAME!**" Krieg dropped his AR and whipped out his axe, which also set on fire. He began to laugh in a more demented manner than ever before. He charged straight at Midge-Mong and they clashed. Whenever the bullymong threw a punch, Krieg's axe met with the fist and the midget's effort were all but useless. Krieg soon found an opening and plunged his blade into the bullymong's shoulder.

"GRRRRIIIND THE CARTILAGE!" The flame went out on its own, revealing Krieg's skin to be untouched.

Maya was then able to snap out of it and phaselock Midge-Mong. Maya then pulled Krieg back as Caine tossed six grenades over to the trapped beastie. Needless to say the bullymong was obliterated, leaving the midget to drop to the ground, dazed and confused.

Then two big marauders burst out of the bar. They wielded large, belt-fed machine guns. Gaige and Caine had to cover the other two and the firefight ensued. Both sides poked out of cover and fired when they could. Both sides' cover was riddled with holes. Finally, Caine made the decision to switch over to his hand cannon. The next marauder to poke his head out received a hilariously large hole in it.

"What's your name! NOOOO!" screamed the other marauder. This left him open for acid buckshot to the shoulder and neck. "AH! OH GOD! MY FACE! MY FACE!" And it was so, as the acid burned across his skull and into his brain. His body convulsed into a seizure as his head withered away.

Gaige watched in shock. But she knew she would probably see far worse things on this planet. She closed her eyes and took a deep calming breath.

"Is everyone alright?" Gaige directed the question over to Maya and Krieg.

Maya was holding Krieg down to the ground, trying to get him to calm down.

"NO! NO! NO! STOP IT! I NEED TO FEEL IT ALL!"

"Krieg calm down…you got him, okay?" Maya's soothing voice made the psycho's muscles melt into relaxation. Krieg looked into Maya's stormy grey eyes and drank in the calm.

_'Man what was all of that,' _sane Krieg thought. _'Note to self: We are resistant to fire…fun.'_

"Pretty blue…" Crazy Krieg was too busy enjoying the view to listen. His heart rate slowed back down and he cracked a wry grin under his mask. Maya let him go and helped him stand up.

"Alright! High-five Krieg!" Gaige threw up her human hand in the ceremonial comradery. Krieg, of course, left her hanging.

_'You smack your palm against hers. Go ahead and try it.' _Krieg looked at the hand before him, a curious display to him if there ever was.

But he still brought his hand up and smacked it down on Gaige's hand.

"Alright!" Gaige turned away from everyone and let out a silent scream, while shaking her now pained hand.

"You…think this…will…stop me!" Midge struggled back up onto his stubby legs. He weakly lifted his guns in a vain attempt to fight on.

"Oh shut up, we're having a moment." Caine lifted his hand cannon and literally blew the little guy's head off.

Everyone began the obligatory looting. Maya claimed Midge's fire SMG as her own. And Gaige took the electric one.

"Ohmygod ohmygod YES!" Gaige squeed like a school girl as they were rummaging through the bar.

"What is it?" Caine inquired.

"I found just the chip I need to fix my DT summoner!" Gaige started to dance around in excitement. "He'll be in his basic form again, but at least I'm getting him back!"

After the installation and heartwarming reunion between girl and bot, the gang headed back to Sanctuary.

**Hi there everyone! Enjoy the chapter?!**

**My excuse this time is my very old dog died over the weekend**

**I'm happy that it's done because I think he was just suffering the last few months of his life**

**But my sister wouldn't have it and kept the blind, deaf, and barely able to walk pup around.**

**And she was all sad by it.**

**So I drowned her sorrows with her by getting her hooked on Being Human**

**Sam Huntington is such a cutey xD**

**But also, like I said before, there's a lot more homework from class :'(**

**Anyway, I think it may be down to one chapter a week plus**

**Sorry**

**Stay Frosty,**

**B**


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